UFC March: Madness

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Mekchu: Apr 10, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Previous thread is here.

March Events & Dates
March 6, 2021 - UFC 259
March 13, 2021 - UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad
March 20, 2021 - UFC on ESPN: Brunson vs Holland
March 27, 2021 - UFC 260

Current Champions
Men's Heavyweight Champion - Stipe Miocic(20-3)
Men's Light Heavyweight Champion - Jan Blachowicz (27-8)
Men�s Middleweight Champion - Israel Adesanya (20-0)
Men's Welterweight Champion - Kamaru Usman (18-1)
Men's Lightweight Champion - Vacant
Men's Featherweight Champion - Alexander Volkanovski (22-1)
Men�s Bantamweight Champion - Petr Yan (15-1)
Men's Flyweight Champion - Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1-1)
Women's Featherweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (20-4)
Women's Bantamweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (20-4)
Women�s Flyweight Champion - Valentina Shevchenko (20-3)
Women's Strawweight Champion - Zhang Weili (21-1)

Other Things to Check Out

MMA is not solely restricted to UFC but it is pretty much guaranteed that the UFC will more often than not put on fun cards. There�s a bunch of B, C, and Z tier MMA organizations which you can chat about over at the B-League MMA: Grand Prixs and Untested Pee thread.

We have the Let's Watch: Random Old MMA Events! Thread thread which has been great to read about/relive events through other people�s eyes and worth getting in on yourself if you like writing.

Finally, shout out to DumbWhiteGuy for providing details for the MMA IRC channel.

irc.synirc.net #mma

Join your fellow MMA fans in discussing all things MMA in a place probably secure against nuclear armageddon - IRC has been around for so long I'm not convinced anything could kill it.

There is also the MMA Goons Discord if you no longer use IRC because you are living in the 21st century.

:siren:

Please Note: this is not an official Fight Island discord, and is just some of us hanging around to chat and such. :siren:

Link - https://discord.gg/SkR8ZeC

# ¿ Mar 2, 2021 00:51

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:36

Mekchu: Apr 10, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Time for the :effort:

post

February Recap

First in February we had UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov. This card wasn�t too flashy but had a few amazing highlights. Beneil Dariush continued his winning ways and notched his 6th straight win against Carlos Diego Ferreira and I genuinely think is one of the greatest gatekeepers in MMA at the moment. Clay Guida somehow beat Michael Johnson, and both should just retire. In the co-main event, Cory Sandhager got a BEA-U-TI-FUL flying knee KO on Frankie Edgar just 28 seconds into the fight.

In the main event Alistair Overeem lost to Alexander Volkov via TKO which, yeah that�s a weird one. Here�s them side by side.

And here is the KO/TKO

Yeah.

Then on February 13th the UFC held UFC 258 which overall was a good card. Kelvin Gastelum got back into the win column, and Alexa Grasso further derailed the Maycee Barber hype train. In the main event despite eating an early punch that seemed to have rocked him, Kamaru Usman put on a clinic for precision and timed boxing against Gilbert Burns leading to the latter succumbing to strikes early in the third round. Usman then put a pretty strongly worded message to all journalists, pundits, and fighters out there that they better respect his name etc. The UFC took noticed and said they�d be considering making him a coach for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, probably opposite Colby Covington because that�d somehow make money and also the TUF Coach Curse would mean Covington could probably get the title making Dana�s Daddy happy.

Then on February 20th there was the UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs Lewis card that had some solid action. On the undercard of the 6 fights set for the prelims, 5 of them ended via KO or TKO all within 2 rounds. Here�s a quick run of those fights before we talk about the main card.

Sergey Spivak vs Jared Vanderaa

Aiemann Zahabi vs Drako Rodriguez

Shana Dobson vs Casey O�neill

Julian Erosa vs Nate Landwehr

Now on the main card we had some interesting shakeups/wins in the Heavyweight division. Tom Aspinall, a fighter I had never heard of until now, wound up beating Andrei Arlovski via a quick Rear Nake Choke that saw Arlovski tap pretty early and mount no attempt to escape it.

Also Aleksei Oleinik loss to Chris Daukass, another guy I�ve never heard of until this card, via TKO. In the main event, we saw Curtis Blaydes start to school and piece up Derrick Lewis a fair amount. It seemed as though that Lewis had no real answer for Blaydes� footwork, boxing, and constant pressure etc. until Lewis caught Blaydes with a short uppercut that immediately spelled the end for Blaydes� bid to get the next title shot.

The final card for the month came on February 27th with UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs Gane. This card wasn�t awful but saw tons of decisions, most of which I missed due to personal life stuff so I�ll quickly run down who won that was of note. Alex Caceres won vs Kevin Croom, Jimmie Rivera lost to Pedro Munhoz, Mayra Bueno Silva beat Montana De La Rosa, with Magomed Ankalaev beating Nikita Krylov in the co-main event. In the main event Ciryl Gane put together an effective point fighting strategy that stymied and seemingly caused Jairzinho Rozenstruik to not really formulate any answer for their full 25 minutes of fighting. As a result, Gane took home the Unanimous Decision victory. And could be next in line for the Heavyweight belt if Derrick Lewis isn�t deemed worthy enough.

UFC events in March

UFC is running a bunch of events in March shoving two PPVs into the month for no real reason other than they can and want to.

First up on March 6th is UFC 259 which on paper looks fairly stacked and worth the watch. On the preliminary card we have Tim Elliott who never disappoints in at least making a fight exciting even if he loses. Also on the undercard we have Joseph Benavidez making his in-ring return after his failed bid for the Flyweight championship, Dominick Cruz is bumped down off of a PPV for the first time in forever in his 2nd fight back in what feels like forever against Casey Kenney, and we also have Song Yadong helping fill out that preliminary card. Oh and Kai Kara-France who, while losing a fair bit more than you�d think, puts on a lot of exciting fights and was nominated for Round of the Year in 2020. On the main card we have Light Heavyweight challengers Thiago Santos and Aleksandar Rakic facing off. I�d wager that if Rakic can get past Santos, he�d be pretty close to a title shot having disposed of two former title challengers back to back. There is also a fight with Islam Makhachev and Drew Dober for�.reasons? Dober is fine but its a bit odd to see him get higher billing than the likes of Yadong, Cruz, and even Benavidez. Then we have three title fights across three divisions featuring four champions. Petr Yan is making the first defense of his Bantamweight Championship against perennial contender Aljamain Sterling. This should be a great fight. Yan has shown to have crisp striking and heavy hands, while AlJo being a Matt Serra prodigy clearly has a grappling base but is also fairly competent standing up as well. In the co-main event we have Amanda Nunes defending her Featherweight championship against Megan Anderson. This is a fight I�m personally not too interested in as I think Megan isn�t quite ready or up to par with Nunes but given Women�s Featherweight is a wasteland it�s fine I guess? And finally in the main event we have reigning Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz taking on Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya for the former�s Light Heavyweight Championship. This is a fairly intriguing matchup as Adesanya has shown to be leaps and bounds above most others in terms of striking and is entering the fight the much smaller fighter and not really seeming to have bulked up much at all. Jan is a fighter seriously could just get one solid punch and end the night and seeing if he can put it together to tag up the more elusive Adesanya should be interesting. If it goes to the ground I�d guess I�d have to give it to Adesanya in terms of pure grappling given he trains with the likes of Andre Galvao and Josh Hinger, but really it could just be bad news as Jan could just wail down haymakers. Good fight this one is.

The following week on March 13, 2021 is UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad. This is a card you can sorta skip just to the main event for. Leon Edwards is finally fighting in what feels like years (probably is at this point), and having lost a lot of potential matchups due to COVID (lol at the UFC still not deciding to not hold events) and injuries, Edwards is matched up with Belal Muhammad. If Edwards wins, he could make a case to be the next shot at Kamaru Usman�s Welterweight title but again, the UFC is weird and dumb and probably will ignore Leon in favor for Colby �White Supremacy Is My Gimmick� Covington. Also on this card is Angela Hill, and if she gets robbed by the judges again, I�ll be pretty much positive there�s a conspiracy against her.

On March 20th the UFC will be on ESPN with UFC on ESPN: Brunson vs Holland. This looks to be a decent card. Obviously the main event is Derek Brunson vs Kevin Holland. If Holland puts on another strong showing, he could see himself facing Adesanya for the Middleweight strap soon. If Brunson wins, I have no clue what they�ll do with him. Tai Tuivasa is taking on Don�Tale Mayes in a Heavyweight bout, along with Gregor Gillespie taking on Brad Riddell in a Lightweight fight, Kay Hansen returns to face Cheyanne Buys, Paul Craig and Jamahal Hill are facing off as well. Overall, not a horrid looking card but if you only watch the main card, nobody will blame you.

The final event of March is another PPV on March 27th, UFC 260. Why, in the middle of a pandemic in which people lost tons of work, stimulus checks have barely been rolled out and so forth the UFC thought �yeah TWO ppvs in a month is a good idea� is beyond me. This card looks lesser in value than 259, but has some solid matchups. Sean O�Malley is taking on Thomas Almeida in O�Malley�s first fight since he totally didn�t lose to Marlon Vera. Tyron Woodley is fighting again because he just hates us so much, and will be facing Vicente Luque. I genuinely think Woodley should�ve retired ages ago but what do I know? In the co-main event Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is defending his title against Brian Ortega in what should be a good matchup. I�d pick Alex in this one. In the main event we have the UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic facing off against Francis Ngannou for the second time. We will see if Ngannou has changed much in the years since that fight, but I would probably say Stipe has more of an edge in this one, if he can wrestle-gently caress Ngannou to exhaustion and just repeat what he did last time they fought then it�ll be pretty funny.

Current Champions

Men's Heavyweight Champion - Stipe Miocic(20-3)
A veteran for 9 years in the UFC, Stipe has amassed quite an impressive resume. After a series of winning streaks halted by a lone loss, Miocic eventually worked his way up to a title fight with then champion Fabricio Werdum and shocked the world with his KO win becoming the new UFC Heavyweight Champion. Miocic would then go on and set the record for the most UFC Heavyweight title defenses at 3 because the UFC Heavyweight Championship must have a curse or something. This would then lead to a Champion vs Champion bout between then UFC Light Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier which Miocic would lose. He then sat out for a year lobbying for a rematch which he eventually got 13 months after losing the title. While Stipe lost his first match with Cormier via KO, he avenged that loss with a KO of his own and reclaimed his Heavyweight gold. Another year would pass and Cormier and Miocic would face off for the third and final time, which would also presumably serve as Cormier�s retirement fight where Miocic�s clinch control and awareness of Cormier�s game plan would lead him to another title defense beginning a new bid to set the record for most title defense wins. Miocic�s next opponent is Francis Ngannou later this month.

Men's Light Heavyweight Champion - Jan Blachowicz (27-8)
Poland�s Jan Blachowicz pre-UFC career was mainly a string of beating up European MMA fighters until being called up to the UFC. Things didn't go well for Blachowicz losing 4 of his first 6 fights in the promotion. Eventually though he found his groove and would string together wins and even avenging a few of his early losses in the UFC in rematches. It was when he fought and lost to Thiago Santos that things seemed to have changed. Blachowicz admitted the loss made him better and more focused on his fight game. He was relatively not a top end contender when the UFC matched him against the former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold. The viciousness of Rockhold�s KO loss that night sent the clear message that Jan was not to be overlooked and thanks to a pair more wins that immediately followed, he was clearly a top challenger for the UFC Light Heavyweight championship. When Jon Jones vacated the belt the UFC put Dominick Reyes and Jan against one another to determine the new champion. Many assumed Reyes, who arguably won against Jones in his last outing, would simply claim the vacant belt. Much like the Rockhold fight, Jan�s power and focus made it abundantly clear that he was not to be anyone�s stepping stone. Now the UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Jan�s first title challenger is unclear but there has been talk that Jones� planned move to Heavyweight may be postponed so the two can finally meet inside the cage. It was announced recently that Jan is going to have his first title defense against reigning Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya.

Men�s Middleweight Champion - Israel Adesanya (20-0)
A native of Nigeria, New Zealand�s Adesanya started his career not with MMA but with kickboxing and amassed a significant record of bouts throughout Asia and Australasia. Adesanya even made an appearance in Glory Kickboxing before moving to MMA full time. Debuting as an undefeated fighter, Adesanya simply kept collecting �scalps� (as he puts it) until he was facing off against the Middleweight Division�s best. With wins over Derek Brunson and Anderson Silva within his first year in the UFC, the brass decided he and Kelvin Gastelum would face off for the Interim Middleweight Championship. This was arguably the best fight of 2019, if not the best Round of the Year. With the Interim Belt to his name, he was set to face fellow Kiwi, but Australian based, Robert Whittaker in a showdown. Fittingly in the same arena that Adesanya was in the nosebleeds to see Holm KO Rousey, Adesanya KO�d Whittaker and took the Undisputed Middleweight Championship home. In his first defense Adesanya did not waste time aiming to clear out the division and fought against Yoel Romero. While this fight arguably was lackluster, it was clear that Romero�s prowess for chaos was at least stifled by Adesanya�s awareness and ability to not get caught. Next Adesanya defended his title against a fellow undefeated Middleweight in the form of Paulo Costa. Many believed this would be at least a greater test for Adesanya than before and yet Adesanya put on a picture perfect performance with a 2nd round TKO win. Adesanya is now booked to move up to 205 lbs to fight Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz for reasons that are beyond comprehension.

Men's Welterweight Champion - Kamaru Usman (18-1)
Debuting in 2015 with The Ultimate Fighter: Blackzilians vs American Top Team, Kamaru Usman quickly showed his belief in his own self and mental toughness was a trait you could easily identify about him. Following the TUF finale, which Usman won, he would then go on to amass more and more wins against the Welterweight division�s top fighters. However Usman�s performances weren�t as eye-catching as others in the division, and yet he was there easily dispatching his opponents. Following wins over Demian Maia and Rafael Dos Anjos, Usman served as a replacement for Colby Covington against Tyron Woodley for Woodley�s Welterweight Championship. This would be Usman�s standout performance of his career, easily controlling and just beating up Woodley for all 5 rounds to earn a lopsided decision. Next Usman was put up against Colby Covington who had already begun a campaign to challenge for the belt. Usman again put on a fantastic performance and shut Covington up by breaking his jaw. He was then expected to face fellow teammate Gilbert Burns but Burns contracted COVID19 and a last minute replacement of Jorge Masvidal was chosen. Again, Usman�s hard work and ability to grind his opponents down served him yet another victory. Usman then fought, and dominated, Gilbert Burns in a phenomenal showing. Afterwards Usman called out Colby Covington again because somehow Colby has talked his way into another title shot?

Men's Lightweight Champion - Vacant
The shadow of Conor McGregor held sway over the UFC Featherweight and Lightweight divisions for nearly two years. This was the setting for Khabib�s rise to the top and eventual championship. Nurmagomedov debuted in 2012 and simply went on a tear beating ever increasing and different styled opponents with his patented wrestling and clinch control. It wasn�t until UFC 223 that Khabib ever came close to a title, and with UFC 223�s insanity let�s just say Khabib got a lot of exposure and sympathy a lot quicker. Khabib went on to fight several more times going up to a 29-0 record. However with the recent death of his father, his win of Gaethje being his first fight camp without his dad, he decided to hang up the gloves and return home. We thought the winner of Poirier/McGregor would fight someone else for the vacant belt, but Dana still thinks Khabib is coming back so who loving knows whats up with this belt.

Men's Featherweight Champion - Alexander Volkanovski (22-1)
A former rugby player who pushed 200 lbs, Alexander Volkanovski�s athleticism has been a key factor in his UFC run. The Australian native entered the UFC with a 14-1 record and, much like his fellow champions on this list, just kept winning until he was facing off against former title challengers in the form of Chad Mendes, who he TKO�d, or former champions like Jose Aldo, who he beat via decision. With his winning ways he then saw himself across the Octagon from UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway. In a 5 round tactical battle, Volkanovski earned the upset win and dethroned the surging Holloway who had been undefeated at 145 for a good while. It was only fitting that Volkanovski then give Holloway a chance to win the belt back and the 2nd fight was just as exciting as the first. Suffering an early knockdown, Volkanovski was able to recover and eventually work out another decision victory setting Holloway off the Featherweight mountain for the foreseeable future. There has been no set contender for Volkanovski at this time.

Men�s Bantamweight Champion - Petr Yan (15-1)
Russia�s Petr Yan entered the UFC with a bang thanks to a first round KO win. His notoriety had put Yan on some fight fans� radar but it wasn�t until he had a pair of wins over John Dodson and Jimmie Rivera that people really begun to take notice. With those wins, Yan was paired with former WEC Featherweight Champion and UFC Bantamweight title challenger Urijah Faber in what many believed to be a true test for Yan. Within 3 rounds Yan held a prized KO win over Faber and saw himself become a top contender for Henry Cejudo�s championship. That was until Cejudo vacated the belt and then Yan was paired against Jose Aldo for the championship. Yan�s superb striking against an always game Aldo became more and more a factor and eventually Aldo succumbed to strikes midway through the fifth round. Yan�s next challenger is Aljamain Sterling on the UFC PPV this month.

Men's Flyweight Champion - Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1-1)
Deiveson Figueredo debuted with the UFC in 2017 and immediately set the Flyweight division on fire. He picked up 4 wins quickly and then faced off against veteran Jussier Formiga. This would be a losing effort for Figueiredo but an important one which Deiveson learned from. Following the loss he then picked up a win and was pitted against former Flyweight title challenger Tim Elliott who Deiveson quickly tapped in the first round. With the Flyweight Championship vacated by Henry Cejudo, Deiveson saw his name on the marquee opposite former title challenger Joseph Benavidez. However Figueiredo came in over-weight and although he picked up a TKO win was ineligible to win the title. A rematch was then booked 5 months later and this time Deiveson had no issues with his weight. In even quicker fashion Deiveson choked out Benavidez and claimed the UFC Flyweight Championship. After Cody Garbrandt tested positive for COVID, Deiveson faced Alex Perez in November and won easily, so easily the UFC decided to rebook him for December to face #1 contender Brandon Moreno in the main event of UFC 256. The fight was a great back and forth affair that was hard to clearly judge either way, so much so that the ringside judges opted for a majority draw meaning we will see Moreno and Deiveson showdown one more time to determine who is the actual better fighter hopefully some time in early 2021.

Women's Featherweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (20-4)
Having claimed the UFC Bantamweight Championship, Nunes would go on a winning streak while the Featherweight division sat under the control of Cristiano �Cyborg� Justino. When the two were eventually paired for a Champion vs Champion bout at Featherweight, many assumed that Nunes likely could win, but it wouldn�t be that easily. Boy did she make us all eat our words on that one. Nunes KO�d Justino in less than a minute and became the first Two Division Champion for the UFC�s women�s roster and also the first female Double Champ. From here Nunes would bounce back and forth defending her Bantamweight and Featherweight titles, most recently in Featherweight where she beat Felicia Spencer. The next title challenger is expected to be Megan Anderson for UFC 259.

Women's Bantamweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (20-4)
Following her third fight in the UFC, a loss to Cat Zingano, Amanda Nunes seemingly changed everything about her fighting style and went on a tear in the Bantamweight division. She would pick up wins over title challengers like Sara McMann and top title contender Valentina Shevchenko. This thrusted her into a Bantamweight Championship match against reigning champion Miesha Tate at UFC 200 which saw Nunes easily win in just three and a half minutes. Following this she would welcome former champion Ronda Rousey back to the UFC, and simultaneously retire her as well. A rematch with Shevchenko and a win over Raquel Pennington saw Nunes quickly become a top champion in the division. When she was put into a Champion vs Champion bout against Cristiano Justino, we all just assumed she would be undersized and yet she surprised us again with a quick KO. Since then she defended her Bantamweight title twice against Holly Holm, who she KO�d, and Germain de Randamie and then went back to Featherweight being the only truly active multi-weight champion defending both her titles. Nunes is taking her next fight at Featherweight while Bantamweight tries to figure out who is up next for The Lioness.

Women�s Flyweight Champion - Valentina Shevchenko (20-3)
Debuting as a Bantamweight, Shevchenko�s skills were easily notable in the women�s division. However key losses to Amanda Nunes at UFC 196 in a non-title bout, and then later in a title bout at UFC 215 would see her return to the Flyweight division which she had fought in during her pre-UFC days. A fight against then champion Nicco Montano fizzled when Mantano couldn�t make weight let alone the fight due to illness and was stripped. Valentina then faced former kickboxing opponent and former UFC Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant belt which she won. Since then Shevchenko has been on a tear with KO and TKO wins over Jessica Eye and Katlyn Chookagian and a decision win over Liz Carmouche (who Shevchenko lost to prior to the UFC). Shevchenko then faced and dispatched of Jennifer Maia. Since then nobody really could think of a good challenger so former Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade is moving to 125lbs to fight for the title because Women�s Flyweight is not very robust.

Women's Strawweight Champion - Zhang Weili (21-1)
Zhang Weili made a name for herself in China�s MMA circuit before being picked up by the UFC. With a quick succession of victories over Jessica Aguilar and Tecia Torres, Weili looked to be the Chinese star the UFC could put their marketing efforts behind and they did so when they put her against then Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade at an event in Shenzhen, China. Much like Andrade quickly earned a KO win to claim the belt, Weili returned the favor and claimed the championship becoming China�s first UFC champion. In her next outing she would face former Strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in an all out war that earned FOTN and also left Joanna looking seriously deformed thanks to significant hematomas. With Rose Namajunas, another former Strawweight champion, returning and picking up a win over Andrade, it seems like Weili will likely face Thug Rose next to cement herself as the greatest Strawweight Champion in UFC history but due to COVID its unsure when that would even happen..

As always, if i forgot something please let me know.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2021 00:52