Spivak extremely underrated dark horse.

Safton said:
Much appreciated! I know a lot of people are (understandably) down on this card, but at the very least I think this is an interesting crossroads fight which is going to bring a bit of clarity to the division and answer questions about both men. Namely:
  • Is Spivak going to be able to slide into title contention by beating a tricky, athletic striker like Gane -- which would be by far the biggest win of his career?
  • Will Gane ever have a chance at becoming the truly well-rounded, championship-level mixed martial artist I thought he was or is he going to remain a sort of Heavyweight Wonderboy or Carlos Condit?
Looking forward to it, though Saint-Denis vs. Moises is definitely my favorite fight on the card lol.
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Exactly. A really pivotal fight for both Gane and Spivak.
 
Safton said:
Much appreciated! I know a lot of people are (understandably) down on this card, but at the very least I think this is an interesting crossroads fight which is going to bring a bit of clarity to the division and answer questions about both men. Namely:
  • Is Spivak going to be able to slide into title contention by beating a tricky, athletic striker like Gane -- which would be by far the biggest win of his career?
  • Will Gane ever have a chance at becoming the truly well-rounded, championship-level mixed martial artist I thought he was or is he going to remain a sort of Heavyweight Wonderboy or Carlos Condit?
Looking forward to it, though Saint-Denis vs. Moises is definitely my favorite fight on the card lol.
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Oh and meant to ask why st. Denis vs. Moises is your favorite fight on the card.
 
Spivak will finish Gane , ir wil not last 5 rounds
 
I agree. He's been impressive in the fights I saw him in. I also think we are going to see two Sergei's fighting for the title at some point
 
He is, but Tom Aspinall sonned him bad and he is in his way.
 
PurpleStorm said:
Oh and meant to ask why st. Denis vs. Moises is your favorite fight on the card.
Click to expand...

I've always found Saint-Denis to be an intriguing prospect ever since he entered the UFC. The military background mixed with the grappling pedigree made him out to be like a French Tim Kennedy, but he's nowhere near as much of an ass lol. His debut was really rough. He suffered one of the few, incontrovertible examples of a 10-7 in modern MMA in Round 2 against dos Santos. Not only did he survive to the scorecards, but he actually came back late in said round with a takedown and landed a couple of strikes of his own! It was all for naught, of course, but damn the guy showed an insane chin and loads of heart. For a long time I was terrified that him fighting up a weight class against a dangerous guy and incurring so much damage had ruined a shiny prospect... but he's proved me wrong. He moved down to Lightweight and has looked really solid. His striking is basic, albeit effective and has legit finishing potential to it if he lands clean and he's a holy terror with his wrestling & top game. I did not in any way expect him to derail mega-prospect Bonfim by not only out-striking him but also soundly out-grappling him and subbing him! I already respected Benoit for being an exciting fighter, but that fight made me reassess his ceiling from "fun, above-average guy who knows how to bring it" to "legit prospect to keep an eye on".

Now for Moises. I can't say I'm as much a fan of Thiago as I am of Benoit, but I've always had a lot of respect for the Brazilian and his game. He is one of those dudes who has stayed right inside that Top 20 pocket at a very competitive division for what seems like 3+ years now. Right on the cusp, but never really managing to string together quite enough momentum to make a concerted run into the rankings. He has a solid skill set and has made improvements over time (plus I'm an ATT fanboy). Definitely has some legit wins over dudes like Michael Johnson and Alex Hernandez. He survived some really bad spots on the mats for three rounds against Dariush, even throwing up some sub attempts of his own. Hell, in hindsight he has had one of the best performances against Makhachev of anyone to date except for Volk, Arman, and Martins. Moises made it to the 4th round and managed to at least land some strikes, score a takedown and near-back-take, threatened a sub or two, etc. It's crazy to say, but he did better than Oliveira lol.

So where does that leave us? Moises is not elite and probably never will be. He's had his chances and tends to fall apart against a certain level of competition (especially good strikers with a modicum of TDD). But he's still a very game opponent who has a fairly dangerous offensive grappling game at his disposal, is defensively sound on the mat, and has put a lot of work into improving his boxing & kicking arsenal over the years. I think he is the perfect litmus test for a surging Lightweight like Saint-Denis: an experienced veteran someone who can test him everywhere.

Plus, well, I like grappler vs. grappler match-ups. They're my favorite thing to watch... assuming the fighters actually grapple each other rather than engaging in sloppy striking across 15 minutes. High-level scrambles, reversals, fighting for position and attempting/escaping subs at a high pace? *Chef's kiss* Give me that over a FOTN-level striking war or sloppy brawl any day.
 
Gane has bad TDD.
If an injured Ngannou got him down multiple times, I don't see why Spivac can't do as well.
 
He definitely has a good chance in this fight, for sure. Gane's grappling is filth.
 
So at the heart of it your math is something like Spivak’s grappling MUST be better than Jones because of age and size and perhaps pedigree. To that I say, check out Roger Gracie vs BUCHECHA 2. All those same factors applied to Almeida but guess what, being the GOAT (Hoger) played a huge factor.

Gordon Ryan has spoke highly of Jon’s grappling and Gordon would roll up Spivak like a pretzel and with impunity.
 
Gane just served me some very fine french crowsine
 
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