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Previous thread is here. April Events & Dates UFC on ABC - April 10, 2021 UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs Gastelum - April 17, 2021 UFC 261: Usman vs Masvidal 2 - April 24, 2021 Current Champions Men's Heavyweight Champion - Francis Ngannou (16-3) Men's Light Heavyweight Champion - Jan Blachowicz (28-8) Men’s Middleweight Champion - Israel Adesanya (20-1) 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 - Aljamain Sterling (20-3) Men's Flyweight Champion - Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1-1) Women's Featherweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (21-4) Women's Bantamweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (21-4) 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. We also are always looking for nominations for the 2020 Best & Worst of MMA awards. 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.  Please Note: this is not an official Fight Island discord, and is just some of us hanging around to chat and such. Link - https://discord.gg/SkR8ZeC
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Apr 1, 2021 00:18
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March Recap March was a solid month of cards in the UFC. We still see Dana and company being incredibly dumb and bullheaded about literally anything to do with this COVID-19 pandemic but that just seems par for the course with this lot. The first event of the month was the first of two PPVs with UFC 259 taking place at the UFC Apex Center in Las Vegas. A few fights worth noting were Dominick Cruz winning against Casey Kenney and then calling out Monster Energy’s Hans Molenkamp for a bunch of abusive stuff the guy has done to leverage fighter’s in the UFC with the UFC’s partnership with Monster. It's weird and messy but go read up on it. Also on the card Aleksander Rakic took a decision win over Thiago Santos and seems to be the next notable thing in Light Heavyweight which is always good and cool to watch implode in real time. Aljamain Sterling took home the UFC Bantamweight Championship thanks to Petr Yan getting DQ’d via an illegal knee giving Sterling the honor of being the only fighter in UFC history to win a belt off of a DQ. Amanda Nunes made quick work of Megan Anderson in a lopsided fight that just was embarrassing. Finally Jan Blachowicz defeated Israel Adesanya via a decision after reeling he could just wrestle the smaller fighter and not eat so many jabs like he was. Both Jan and Israel looked good in this fight and seems to not have seriously derailed either the winner nor the loser too much, but was so weirdly unnecessary that it is still bizarre it happened. Next was UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad. This was a card I missed but it actually had a ton of KOs and TKOs so go watch those. Eryk Anders won a fight thanks to a DQ (back to back weekends baby!) versus Darren Stewart. Dan Ige KO’d Gavin Tucker, with Ryan Spann also picking up a KO win over Misha Cirkunov. In the main event, Leon Edwards basically shot his title shot at Kamaru Usman in the foot by making his match with Belal Muhammad a No Contest due to an accidental eyepoke. So now Edwards has no real clout to be shooting for a title shot despite having a decent run as of late. Who knows when that poor bastard can get a title opportunity. He seems genuinely cursed. The next weekend was another rather unforgettable card with UFC on ESPN: Brunson vs Holland. A really quick and sloppy rundown is Tai Tuivasa picking up a KO win at Heavyweight versus somebody random who has the literal last name Hunsucker. Max Griffin got a solid KO victory over Song Kenan. In the main event Derek Brunson picked up a Unanimous Decision victory over the surging Kevin Holland. Finally for the month, the UFC had a second PPV that really wasn’t needed with UFC 260: Miocic vs Ngannou 2. On the main card, Sean O’Malley picked up a KO win over Thomas Almeida meaning he will continue to claim he never lost to Marlon Vera. Vicente Luque picked up a submission win via Brabo Choke against Tyron Woodley who we again plead to just retire at this point. We’re seriously begging you dude, stop. In the main event a rematch between Francis Ngannou and Stipe Miocic resulted in Miocic losing his Heavyweight title for the second time as Ngannou finally got that KO he was looking for after seven rounds of fighting Miocic total. Ngannou is now the new UFC Heavyweight champion. UFC events in April April is going to be a lighter month than recent ones with just three events scheduled. First up on April 10th is the UFC’s second card to be aired on ABC with UFC on ABC. Originally this was meant to be headlined by Darren Till and Marvin Vettori. However just a few days ago the bought was scrapped due to an injury Till received during training camp so now the card has no known headliner. On the card as well is Arnold Allen taking on Sodiq Yusuff which should be an excellent scrap. Both Allen and Yusuff are great prospects at Featherweight and a strong performance by either one will help propel them into top rankings contention. I’m a fan of Super Sodiq so I’m going to lean towards him, but Arnold is also a solid fighter. This is likely the headliner replacement but who knows. Also on the card is Sam Alvey taking on Julian Marquez, Nina Ansaroff facing Mackenzie Dern, and Mike Perry fighting Daniel Rodriguez. This is not a strong card and it is a bit baffling the choices made to have the fights on it represent the UFC to the general audience. A week later the UFC will host UFC on ESPN: Whittaker vs Gastelum. It originally was meant to be a card headlined by Robert Whittaker facing Paulo Costa but catching a “severe flu” is what sidelined Costa. Gastelum was called in as a replacement, giving us a fight that was meant to happen in February 2019 which eventually saw Israel Adesanya rise to the championship instead. Also on the card is Gerald Meerschaert taking on Bartosz Fabinski, Drakkar Klose facing Jeremy Stephens, Luis Pena fighting Alexander Munoz and Anthony Birchak taking on Tony Gravely. This card and the UFC on ABC card are both fairly weak, and probably would have benefited from being folded into one solid card. Finally on April 21, 2021 is the UFC’s PPV for the month and also an attempt for the UFC to kill a bunch of people. The UFC has decided to use this event as an attempt to have a full capacity of 15,000 attendees. Yes that’s right. In the middle of the pandemic the UFC is just ignoring any aspect of safety for its fans. The card in general looks really solid. UFC 261 is going to host a trio of title fights. In the main event UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman is granting Jorge Masvidal a rematch to show the doubters of their first fight that Masvidal having a short camp wasn’t actually why Usman won. In the co-main event Women’s Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili is facing former champion Rose Namajunas. This is going to be a fight I’m positive the Florida crowd are gonna hurl a ton of xenophobic chants at so, yeah that’s awesome of the UFC to facilitate for those idiots. Finally Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko is taking on former Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade in the final title bout for the night. All three bouts are intriguing and should be solid. The only real “meh” one on paper is Shevchenko vs Andrade but Andrade has some serious power so maybe she can clip Valentina. Also on the card is Chris Weidman taking on Uriah Hall, a fight that was cancelled in late-January due to Weidman catching COVID. Apparently they both fought before on a regional match which is news to me. Finally, Anthony Smith is taking on Jimmy Crute in a Light Heavyweight bout. I think if Crute can get past Smith, he’ll propel himself into a top 10 ranking in the division. Crute has been a guy I’ve liked watching fight since he was on Dana White’s Ego Series back in 2018 and being a youngish guy he seems like a solid prospect. Current Champions  Men's Heavyweight Champion - Frances Ngannou (16-3) Making an impactful debut in 2015, Francis Ngannou quickly rose to a top contender status amongst the dearth of talent that is Heavyweight. He became known not only for having a high percentage of finishes, but in the viciousness in which he was able to KO/TKO his opponents. His KO of Overeem will forever remain a highlight reel moment in UFC history. After amassing an impressive run, Ngannou was paired with Stipe Miocic for the latter’s UFC Heavyweight title. The undersized and underrated Miocic made Ngannou look like a completely different fighter outwrestling his opponent into exhaustion shutting down Ngannous impressive power. This was Ngannous first loss in the UFC and was then followed up by an utterly bizarre performance against Derrick Lewis which saw Ngannou seemingly do a 180 flip on his vicious aggressive style to a timid and gunshy fighter en route to a Lewis victory. After that fight Ngannou then amassed a winning streak earning his way back to the title via impressive wins, seemingly returning to his tried and true ways. With the rematch with Miocic booked, Ngannou was able to secure victory and become UFC Champion. The next fighter for Ngannou is unknown but good ole Jonny Bones Jones is yapping on Twitter for a fight which means it’ll 100% not be Jones who is next for The Predator.  Men's Light Heavyweight Champion - Jan Blachowicz (28-8) 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. The first test for Jan was Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya which, mostly, was a Jan affair thanks to him learning to use his size more effectively than Adesanya could use his precision and speed. It was a solid test but LHW remains really devoid of viable contenders after the division was summarily cleaned out.  Men’s Middleweight Champion - Israel Adesanya (20-1) 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 then was booked to move up to 205 lbs to fight Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz. The undersized fighter did not emerge victorious and become a two division champion though as Adesanya was mostly held down or stifled in the clinch by Jan’s size and strength advantage. That said, Adesanya did show why he was a top talent, and this lone blemish on his record is not too concerning at present.  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 a slew of people including Jorge Masvidal who is now next for Usman. Usman being an active champion has been a blessing for the UFC.  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 - Aljamain Sterling (20-3) A product of Matt Serra & Ray Longo, Sterling made his UFC debut in 2014. Early on, Sterling looked like a decent young prospect at Bantamweight and did well against his opponents. This path led him to fights with Bryan Caraway and Raphael Assuncao which were his first two ever losses, which oddly happened back to back. Sterling reworked his gameplan and continued to amassing a winning record before being dropped by Marlon Moraes thus derailing his momentum momentarily. With a return, Sterling then again amassed a winning streak and put himself back in title contention despite the two runs of setbacks. Earning the nod to get a title shot at Petr Yan, Sterling entered UFC 259 as an underdog of sorts thanks to Yan’s impressive performances. However mid-fight Sterling took an illegal knee that resulted in a DQ loss for Yan, meaning the UFC belt changed hands and Sterling became the new UFC Bantamweight champion. He is also the only person ever to win the belt in any division via DQ, a dubious honor to hold. Sterling is likely to face Yan next in a rematch though there’s been reports that Sterling is saying Yan needs to not be given a “reward” with a rematch. So who loving knows.  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 (21-4) 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. Amanda easily beat Megan Anderson and then the UFC finally opted to put the nail in the coffin with regards to Women’s Featherweight, though the announcement was made via Megan Anderson on Twitch so….idk?  Women's Bantamweight Champion - Amanda Nunes (21-4) 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 if that will actually happen in April or if the Florida crowd won’t hurl a ton of beer bottles at her due to their xenophobia. As always, if i forgot something please let me know. Mekchu fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Apr 1, 2021 |
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Apr 1, 2021 00:18
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Jack Slack had a great proposal to trick fighters into unionizing. Anytime they complain about pay or treatment by the UFC just say "unionize, bitch"
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Apr 3, 2021 00:26
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double negative posted:on the topic of late career renaissance podcasts, i went to watch mike tyson's podcast with post-championship ngannou, only to sadly learn it was co-hosted by brendan schaub That's a horrifying thought.
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Apr 8, 2021 14:49
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I remember fans and a few fighters saying its suspect but nothing as direct or confrontational as Laura just then.
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Apr 24, 2021 06:49
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Yeah on paper it looked "ok pretty good" and in execution was great save for the Shevchenko/Andrade fight because it was fairly lopsided Usman has easily solidified himself as an all time great.
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Apr 26, 2021 03:30
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Weidman going 2-5 in his his last seven before freakishly breaking his leg vs Hall was already reason enough to say he should retire. He has not looked good since he lost to Rockhold and it was a sudden and sharp decline.
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Apr 27, 2021 01:33
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Southpaugh posted:Explain yourself. per MMA Junkie https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/09/president-donald-trump-praises-jorge-masvidal-kamaru-usman-during-their-attendance-at-campaign-events quote:
He's not ever really explicitly said he was an out and out Trump supporter and conceivably could have been obligated to do a publicity appearance, but it seems less likely since he wasn't scheduled to do anything around September of 2020.
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Apr 27, 2021 01:42
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Sorry for the delay in the May thread. Will post it tonight (Tuesday) my time.
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May 4, 2021 01:45
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UFC May thread - https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3966919
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May 5, 2021 02:07
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