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 Oi mates, welcome to the GDT for UFC Fight Night 101: Whittaker vs. Brunson, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 26 on Fox Sports 1! We’re in the home stretch leading up to Christmas, and more importantly for fight fans, the UFC’s flagship NY Weekend card (and probably some Japanese torchbearers keeping the NYE Pride tradition alive in some terrible, shameful way to be streamed on the internet at 5 a.m.) However, though we’re already well past the various Thanksgiving celebrations observed here in North America, I still feel it is important to take some time to express gratitude every now and then, in this bleak year of tragic politics and accidentally exposing yourself as an anal cum slut on twitter. First and foremost, I’d like to thank you all for laughing at my OPs. I am glad so many of you enjoy them, and appreciate the opportunity to write for fun again. OK, now that I’ve gotten that stupid poo poo out of the way, let’s talk about fights. Fighters are people, too, and as such, most of them are grateful for something or another this year, even if they’re ending 2016 on a kind of lackluster Oceania-market fight card. Let’s take a look at what they’re (probably) going to be thankful for at their post-weigh-in celebratory dinners. Middleweight  Robert Whittaker Most thankful for: Finally moving up to middleweight vs.  Derek Brunson Most thankful for: Lorenz Larkin moving down to welterweight so people stop getting them mixed up with each other Robert Whittaker is an extremely Australian young hotshot who won the weirdly named “TUF: Smashes” as a welterweight, before going on a really shaky and chinny run in that division. It was not without its merits, as beginning the streak that banished Colton Smith from the UFC has earned Whittaker most goons’ permanent respect, and a TKO loss to Stephen Thompson is in retrospect not shameful at all. However, you also shouldn’t be dropping split decisions to Court McGee, so Whittaker made the move up to middleweight. He’s looked surprisingly good there, picking up back-to-back bonuses against Clint Hester and Brad Tavares, who are not great names but are fairly durable. He’s the kind of fighter who very realistically could have derailed Michael Bisping’s rise to the title had that fight actually happened as scheduled, and a win over Brunson will likely establish himself as a deserving mainstay for the foreseeable future of the middleweight top 10. Brunson came to the UFC as part of the Strikeforce merger, and has since carved out a respectable niche for himself as the quintessential MMA Renaissance Period style of “wrestler who knows Falcon Punch.” He got demolished fairly early on by Yoel Romero, but that is the only blemish in his UFC record and is currently on a four-fight TKO streak that includes names like Sam Alvey and Uriah Hall. He should be a tall order for Whittaker and this fight should be fireworks. Which is good, because the card needs it. Lightweight  Jake Matthews Most thankful for: Getting some guy without a wikipedia page after being brutally owned by Kevin Lee, so he can actually win a fight and look good, hopefully vs.  Andrew Holbrook Most thankful for: Two judges getting it wrong against Ramsey loving Nijem so he can claim to have a win in the UFC Jake Matthews is a fighter I had high hopes for and has routinely gotten derailed or had somewhat disappointing performances interspersed between exciting fights. The Aussie is only 22, however, and his two losses are to James Vick and Kevin Lee, who are shaping up to actually be pretty good, (tragically so in Vick’s case.) An extremely forgettable, wikiless guy like Holbrook should be the exact right level for him to get a fun submission, unless his tartan shorts were the true source of his power, in which case the drat Reebok deal got another one. Andrew Holbrook is 1-1 in the UFC. I have seen both of his fights and cannot remember him unless I check his Sherdog page. He should get beat up pretty badly here, unless we’ve all way overrated Matthews. Welterweight  Kyle Noke Most thankful for: Not being on bodyguard duty Sept. 4, 2006 vs.  Omari Akhmedov Most grateful for: Still being in the UFC after a two-fight skid to Sergio Moraes and someone whose nickname is an ineffective Brazilian dance-fighting style TUF 4 alum Kyle Noke is an old man and he’s not very good. He’s good enough to beat the people they bring in for him to beat in front of the home crowd, but he’s not good enough to beat the people they bring in for him to beat in front of the home crowd at the same time. Yes, Chris Camozzi really is that lovely. The former bodyguard to the Crocodile Hunter has the means to finish in a lot of different ways, so long as his opponent really doesn’t feel like winning that day. At 36 years of age, on a two-fight losing streak to unranked scrubs and with a two-year window earlier this decade where he didn’t fight at all due to injury, any given fight could very well be his last, so if you’re feeling nostalgic it’d be good to tune in here. Omari Akhmedov is also pretty bad, but the last guy to beat Noke also has a loss to Capoeira Zaleski dos Santos, so  Featherweight  Yusuke Kasuya vs.  Alex Volkanovski Both most thankful for: Somehow landing on the main card of this FS1 event so they can possibly trick people into learning who they are, (even though it won’t work) Sherdog reminds me that Yusuke Kasuya has a loss to Nick Hein, which makes him at least as good as my favorite fighter of all time Drew Dober. He’s got some fights in the Japanese circuit with a lot of wins by submission, so expect him to be a traditional jiujitsu guy with weird submissions who is completely worthless off of his back. Alex “the Hulk” Volkanovski is making his UFC debut on the tide of a 10-fight win streak over people you’ve never heard of. It looks like he’s got a high finishing rate of both KOs and varied submissions, so hopefully this one will be cool. Light heavyweight  Tyson Pedro Most thankful for: Green bean casserole vs.  Khalil Rountree Most thankful for: Mashed potatoes and turkey gravy Tyson Pedro looks great after his doctor made him stop doing all of those terrible eating contests on Man vs. Food. I remember Khalil Rountree, only because I think his name is kind of cool. Unfortunately that means I remember how loving terrible he looked in his lone UFC fight against Andrew Sanchez. Women’s Strawweight  Seo Hee Ham Most thankful for: Wanderlei Silva vs.  Danielle Taylor Most thankful for: Getting someone worse than Maryna Moroz this time Seo Hee Ham is called Hamderlei due to the comparisons between her fighting style and the Axe Murderer’s. While I think there are other women fighters who are more similar to that traditional Brazilian style of spamming ugly hooks and abusing steroids, it is not entirely without merit. She had a pretty strong run as an atomweight in other promotions, but unfortunately she has to come 10 pounds up to make a weight that exists in the UFC, and as a result she’s 1-2 and routinely outsized. Danielle Taylor isn’t particularly gifted so this should be a good level of competition for her, but I’m personally more interested in seeing her take fights against ladies like the Karate Hottie. Danielle Taylor is a homegrown King of the Cage fighter, which probably says a lot more than any sarcastic gibes I could write. OTHER poo poo TO WATCH FS1 Prelims, 8 p.m. ET Middleweight Dan Kelly vs. Chris Camozzi, who is thankful he doesn’t have to fight the Bad Crocodile Man again Lightweight Damien Brown vs. Jon Tuck Welterweight Richard Walsh vs. Jonathan Meunier  Flyweight Ben Nguyen vs. Geane Herrera Fight Pass Prelims, 6:30 p.m. ET Featherweight Dan Hooker vs. Jason Knight Featherweight Marlon Vera vs. Ning Guangyou Flyweight Yao Zhikui vs. Jenel Lausa Official MMA snack rating: A vegemite sandwich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s And don’t forget about goonweight!
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Nov 26, 2016 04:08
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Khalil is still under contract? Weird.
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Nov 26, 2016 04:13
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Grandmaster.flv posted:Khalil is still under contract? Weird. They usually give TUF runner-ups a second chance
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Nov 26, 2016 04:50
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As one of several Australian MMA followers here - literally no one cares about this card. And eating a hot turkey lunch in the middle of a heat wave summer is not fun.
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Nov 26, 2016 04:54
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Bluedeanie posted:
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Nov 26, 2016 07:07
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Dan Kelly
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Nov 26, 2016 07:16
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Dadbod Dan Kelly should be main eventing
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Nov 26, 2016 07:17
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Dan Didio posted:Dan Kelly
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Nov 26, 2016 09:01
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I miss Steve Irwin.
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Nov 26, 2016 10:29
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Good luck to Ham against Mighty Mouse 
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Nov 26, 2016 13:20
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Is this Dadbod's first fight since he merked Shoeface?
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Nov 26, 2016 13:41
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a card where i vaguely recognise two fighters. excellent.
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Nov 26, 2016 14:15
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Chris Camozzi continues his run of "I know I have seen fight, hell watched him lose twice to Jacare, and still have absolutely no memory of what he looks like or what he does."
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Nov 26, 2016 15:06
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He always looks like he think's he's dreadfully out of his depth. I mean, he usually is, but.
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Nov 26, 2016 15:17
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Should be a fun show
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Nov 26, 2016 15:19
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Flew into Melbourne for this. First live event, hoping to see some nobodies hurt each other!
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Nov 26, 2016 23:37
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I can't believe anyone would fly anywhere for this card but Aussies are a strange folk.
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Nov 27, 2016 00:37
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This fight card apparently has custom short ads?
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Nov 27, 2016 00:38
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The shorts have TAB adverts on them? Haha. That's a wierd touch.
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Nov 27, 2016 00:43
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Lorenzo's kid just got ejected from the ND game for targeting
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Nov 27, 2016 00:43
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This Chinese dude is loving tough
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Nov 27, 2016 00:48
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sportsgenius86 posted:Lorenzo's kid just got ejected from the ND game for targeting Is he good?
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Nov 27, 2016 01:20
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This fuckin hick has an entire Psalm tattooed on his right side.
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Nov 27, 2016 01:33
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I remember this guy Knight from a real good fight on the prelims of some card a few months ago, looking forward to seeing him again
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Nov 27, 2016 01:34
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Both these guys seem huge for featherweight.
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Nov 27, 2016 01:46
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Lmao Jason Knight's from my hometown, run into him at Walmart occasionally.
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Nov 27, 2016 01:48
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Like a drunk driver in a car wreck is possibly the worst analogy I've ever heard.
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Nov 27, 2016 01:52
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30 - 26? What the gently caress
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Nov 27, 2016 01:59
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hell yeah ben 10
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Nov 27, 2016 02:03
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I wonder if fighters get a taste of this TAB advertising money since they're all wearing it.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:04
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Le Saboteur posted:I wonder if fighters get a taste of this TAB advertising money since they're all wearing it. You know the answer.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:06
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That's a fuckin dick move.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:06
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I was about to say Nguyen's got some good kicks then the dick kick.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:08
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It wasn't so much a dick kick as it grazed the cup on the way up and pulled it up.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:10
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This fight is cool. Ben10's doin some Cruz moves ftw.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:11
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man hererra's got a chin. ben hits hard.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:11
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So if Herraras mouth guard is double sided? What if his nose breaks how is he going to breath?
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Nov 27, 2016 02:13
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Man Herrera is tough.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:14
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Ben is owning this dude. Fun to watch.
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Nov 27, 2016 02:14
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 04:53 |
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Ben is cool
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Nov 27, 2016 02:16
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