- Joined
- Jan 22, 2020
- Messages
- 2,213
- Reaction score
- 4,417
Topuria vs Diego Lopes - He KOed two of the best FWs with a heavy point-striking strategy. Lopes is more about chaos and mixing boxing and grappling. Topuria would rather get prepared to move up and challenge Makhachev rather than rematch Old Volk. Guys like Volk should have to beat the winner of Evloev vs Aljo
Max Holloway vs Connor McGregor for the BMF belt - Get the money Max. He is close to being 33 and there is no real interesting match-up for him at 145 and his potential match-ups at 155 would be to wait for Oliveira vs Chandler to take the winner or rematch Poirier. I think Holloway should take the money, same as Poirier did in 2021
Chimaev vs Du Plessis in February - Way more interesting than a Strickland rematch. The lack of wrestlers at 185 leads to MWs unable to wrestle Chimaev because they didn't do wrestling-heavy camps. Chimaev is a killer and would be the favourite here
Whittaker rests and then comes back vs Borralho or Imavov - Takes time to rest and, then, comes back to rebuild himself vs a few up-and-comers. Right now, it will be Imavov or Borralho but everything could change in 6 months. I don't see him at WW or LHW
Ankalaev vs Pereira - His win is not impressive but, at some point, this fight needs to come. I think the UFC will try to do it just after Ramadan or something like that. The gameplan should be to takedown Pereira as soon as possible
Rakic vs winner of Murzakanov vs Krylov - Rakic is 0-3 in the last three. So, I expect him to take a step down and fight the winner of a fight between top 10-15 fighters
Murphy vs Calvin Katar - It was a close win. So, I will not make him fight someone very high, especially because he is not very active. Katar hasn't fought for a long time and will prefer to defend a top 10 vs someone close to his ranking than an unranked fighter, which is what he was matched recently
Dan Ige vs Chepe Mariscal - Banger! Ige has to defend his ranking at some point after losing to Lopes, Murphy and Mitchell. Mariscal is 4-0 in the UFC and must-see TV. This fight should be fireworks
Shara Bullet vs Paulo Costa (alternatives are Chris Curtis or Michel Pereira) - Paulo Costa has been fighting guys above his level (Whittaker, Strickland) because he wants to fight someone that is known / has hype. Costa should fight guys like Gregory Rodrigues or Aliskerov but he will not. Fighting Shara Bullet will bring light to Costa but also avoid to spoil a fight with a contender
Petrosyan vs Abus Magomedov - He did a good fight but might have mixed wrestling to striking. Having a straight stand-up fight with Shara Bullet was too much hubris. On the other side, Abus won his fight by having a better strategy vs a stronger fighter. Both are great kickboxer, so, it could be a fun stand-up fight at the beginning
Bruno Ferreira vs Shahbazyan - Fun fighter but lacks to be smarter in the cage, a bit like Shahbazyan. It should be fireworks and slightly the same problem to solve for Ferreira as Abus. It could also enable Edmen to fight something else than grapplers
Aslan vs Ion Cutelaba - Lots of LHWs came like killers against lower competition (R3, Walker, Petrino), so, he needs to fight someone we know the worth. If he impressively beats Cutelaba, he could fight a guy ranked 14-15
Cerqueira vs Artem Vakhitov - I feel like he is the type of fighter they will give Varkhitov to start
Neal vs Gilbert Burns - Could Burns get passed Neal's boxing or will it end up like the Giacomo's fight. For Neal, it could enable to put another name in his resume. On top, Burns like to fight the same guys as his friend Luque
RDA should consider retirement and, if not, avoid the bigger WWs because he is small. May be he could retire with a fight with Wonderboy
Rebecki vs Nasrat Haqparast - It could a nice fight with two guys that let everything inside the cage and are close to be able to claim a spot in the top 15. Both fighters currently have a top 15-20 ceiling with losses to Ferreira for Rebecki and Dober and Green for Haqparast
Orolbai vs Bahamondes - I think they will put him with fun fighters after Brenner and now Rebecki. Among the rising fun LWs, Bahamondes could be a nice fight for Orolbai where he will be the brawler vs a more technical kicker
Nzechukwu vs loser of Nascimento vs Romanov - Nzechukwu was ranked at some point I think at 205 and looked good. May be he could jump to fight someone ranked 12-15 at HW
Barnett might need to consider retirement
Basharat vs Said Nurmagomedov - He will not be ranked but need to fight the serious fighters around top 20-25
Victor Hugo - Cut - Too many fuck-ups even if he is a good fighter
Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Li Jiangling - Tonight wasn't a step forward for him
Carlos Leal should fight Hadi Mohamed Ali or USADA
Max Holloway vs Connor McGregor for the BMF belt - Get the money Max. He is close to being 33 and there is no real interesting match-up for him at 145 and his potential match-ups at 155 would be to wait for Oliveira vs Chandler to take the winner or rematch Poirier. I think Holloway should take the money, same as Poirier did in 2021
Chimaev vs Du Plessis in February - Way more interesting than a Strickland rematch. The lack of wrestlers at 185 leads to MWs unable to wrestle Chimaev because they didn't do wrestling-heavy camps. Chimaev is a killer and would be the favourite here
Whittaker rests and then comes back vs Borralho or Imavov - Takes time to rest and, then, comes back to rebuild himself vs a few up-and-comers. Right now, it will be Imavov or Borralho but everything could change in 6 months. I don't see him at WW or LHW
Ankalaev vs Pereira - His win is not impressive but, at some point, this fight needs to come. I think the UFC will try to do it just after Ramadan or something like that. The gameplan should be to takedown Pereira as soon as possible
Rakic vs winner of Murzakanov vs Krylov - Rakic is 0-3 in the last three. So, I expect him to take a step down and fight the winner of a fight between top 10-15 fighters
Murphy vs Calvin Katar - It was a close win. So, I will not make him fight someone very high, especially because he is not very active. Katar hasn't fought for a long time and will prefer to defend a top 10 vs someone close to his ranking than an unranked fighter, which is what he was matched recently
Dan Ige vs Chepe Mariscal - Banger! Ige has to defend his ranking at some point after losing to Lopes, Murphy and Mitchell. Mariscal is 4-0 in the UFC and must-see TV. This fight should be fireworks
Shara Bullet vs Paulo Costa (alternatives are Chris Curtis or Michel Pereira) - Paulo Costa has been fighting guys above his level (Whittaker, Strickland) because he wants to fight someone that is known / has hype. Costa should fight guys like Gregory Rodrigues or Aliskerov but he will not. Fighting Shara Bullet will bring light to Costa but also avoid to spoil a fight with a contender
Petrosyan vs Abus Magomedov - He did a good fight but might have mixed wrestling to striking. Having a straight stand-up fight with Shara Bullet was too much hubris. On the other side, Abus won his fight by having a better strategy vs a stronger fighter. Both are great kickboxer, so, it could be a fun stand-up fight at the beginning
Bruno Ferreira vs Shahbazyan - Fun fighter but lacks to be smarter in the cage, a bit like Shahbazyan. It should be fireworks and slightly the same problem to solve for Ferreira as Abus. It could also enable Edmen to fight something else than grapplers
Aslan vs Ion Cutelaba - Lots of LHWs came like killers against lower competition (R3, Walker, Petrino), so, he needs to fight someone we know the worth. If he impressively beats Cutelaba, he could fight a guy ranked 14-15
Cerqueira vs Artem Vakhitov - I feel like he is the type of fighter they will give Varkhitov to start
Neal vs Gilbert Burns - Could Burns get passed Neal's boxing or will it end up like the Giacomo's fight. For Neal, it could enable to put another name in his resume. On top, Burns like to fight the same guys as his friend Luque
RDA should consider retirement and, if not, avoid the bigger WWs because he is small. May be he could retire with a fight with Wonderboy
Rebecki vs Nasrat Haqparast - It could a nice fight with two guys that let everything inside the cage and are close to be able to claim a spot in the top 15. Both fighters currently have a top 15-20 ceiling with losses to Ferreira for Rebecki and Dober and Green for Haqparast
Orolbai vs Bahamondes - I think they will put him with fun fighters after Brenner and now Rebecki. Among the rising fun LWs, Bahamondes could be a nice fight for Orolbai where he will be the brawler vs a more technical kicker
Nzechukwu vs loser of Nascimento vs Romanov - Nzechukwu was ranked at some point I think at 205 and looked good. May be he could jump to fight someone ranked 12-15 at HW
Barnett might need to consider retirement
Basharat vs Said Nurmagomedov - He will not be ranked but need to fight the serious fighters around top 20-25
Victor Hugo - Cut - Too many fuck-ups even if he is a good fighter
Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Li Jiangling - Tonight wasn't a step forward for him
Carlos Leal should fight Hadi Mohamed Ali or USADA
