- Joined
- Oct 13, 2008
- Messages
- 49,010
- Reaction score
- 31,483
With it being a 3pm kickoff, I'll definitely tune in for the entire card with some beers, its a good 8/10 in general but that's mainly based on 3-4 fights.
Cool. See ya in the play by play!Main should be ending round when our game starts so that's actually a plus fer me this time. Prolly hazy headed still at 10am but...
Palestine being free seems to trigger some. Would love to see Palestinian flags!There are half a dozen muslims on this card in UAE, that are all probably favourites to win, this will be the Free Palestinest card of the century
I wonder if there will be any pre fight briefing re: staying away from the subject. Not really the venue to be discussing politics I think. Expecting a lot of it thoughPalestine being free seems to trigger some. Would love to see Palestinian flags!
Big card this week. Lots to talk about. SD is totally divided on a cpl of these fights.
There are some squash matches according to the odds. 6 undefeated fighters on the card. And 5 with only one loss.
This Magomedov guy seems like a complete psychotic scumbag to me. That escalator/sucker punch incident about a year and a half ago. And kicking that guy in a bjj tourney about 6 months ago.
Respect for competing with a serious disability. But, he’s a lowlife. Will he be allowed to fight in the US under an American AC? Bisping said he had to fool the AC Doctors when he was fighting. Magomedov’s eye issue is well known, though.
He might even be refused admission to the US for all I know. I’ve tried to research it but can’t really find anything concrete about an AC and his eye. Or whether his arrest is an issue. Conor never has issues entering the US.
11-0 with 10 KO/TKO. It’s just too bad he’s completely unlikable. But Silva is a nice test. I will pick the undefeated streak to remain intact. Then I guess we see what happens with his eye, and his arrest.
Only one wmma fight on the card. 38 year old natural AW Jinh Yu Frey vs 24 year old undefeated Victoria Dudakova. The odds pretty much reflect the realities of the situation. They are ranked 38, and 39 on Tapology. But they are headed in opposite directions in the rankings.
I’ve always liked Frey going back to her debut in Invicta. It’s tough because she is a natural AW. But did miss weight at least a cpl of times. Including her last fight in Invicta. I’m not sure what her contract status is. But this might be 4 losses in a row.
She might retire, or get cut with a loss here. I’m picking Dudakova to win.
Ankalaev vs Walker. On paper it seems pretty obvious. Ankalaev can just control him on the ground and easily win on points. And Walker is not known for a great chin either. He’s been KOd a few times.
Walker has done well in his last 3 fights. He’s made a nice turnaround since losing 4/5 a while back. Could Walker catch Ankalaev with something on the feet? I suppose, but it just doesn’t seem too likely, to me. But I really would like to see that happen. It would make for a cool story, imo.
I’m going with Ankalaev in this one.
Co-Main.. It’s ridiculous that the winner gets the next TS at MW and we all know it. But that’s a whole different conversation. It’s about fucking time Borz fights again. The hype has dropped off pretty heavily. But there’s not a lot of logic behind it, imo.
A lot of people hating on Borz here. Usman has been favoured in almost all of his fights. But not too many people actually liked the guy. Because he’s simply not likable. I’ve seen many people say it’s the first time they’ll be cheering for Usman. That pretty much says it all, right there.
I think many people are making predictions with their hearts, and not their heads. Way too many people picking Usman to win a 3 round fight, imo. If it was 5 rounds it might be a different story. But Usman isn’t going to win two rounds by wall and stall, or lay and pray.
He has no physical advantages except for an inch of reach. Way too much is being made of the fight each of them had with Burns. It’s still just another form of mmath and has zero bearing on this fight.
Late replacement moving up in weight. And coming off of the worst performance he’s ever had in the UFC. He got caught in the rematch. He flat out lost in the trilogy. And now there’s a possible knee injury, as well.
Borz by early sub is going to be my pick.
ME.. This is weird. It is nothing like what it was going into their first fight. There is no way Alex is in peak form. How could he be? The deck is totally stacked against him in this fight.
The only question I have is about Islam’s weight cut. But he’s fighting on “home” turf. We all know it. He may not even actually have to make championship weight as such. And what are the exact rules about IV usage in Abu Dhabi?
I’m picking Islam to win this fight. I think it’s just too much of an uphill climb for Alex. It’s not just being a late replacement. There was the surgery, and who knows how much training Alex has been able to do since then? It just seems like a really tall order. If he were to win that would be massive. But there’s too much not in his favour. If not for the surgery. I might take a flyer on Alex. But I just can’t see it under ALL of the circumstances surrounding this fight.
I do reserve the right to change any picks I’ve made until after I see the weigh ins. But my Tap card is already done (hidden). I’m pretty confident with my picks.
8:00am start for me. I’ll make sure to hit up the beer store, and weed store tomorrow.
Enjoy the fights everybody. I hope for no controversy and may the better fighters win.
Thanks for the thread @PurpleStorm