UFC Fox 23 - Pena vs Shevchenko - Denver

[pytycrys]

hey man are you in romania? what's the fanbase there like for ufc and combat sports in general?

Hey. I'm from Romania, but for one year and 3 months I've been living in Southampton, UK, studying in University. I still regularly go to Romania, though.
Combat sports are mediocre at best. We have a federation of MMA called RXF but it's really low standards. Kickboxing and boxing wise I think we did a little bit better throughout the time, we had boxers like Leonard Doroftei, Lucian Bute and kickboxers like Andrei and Bogdan Stoica, Daniel Ghita or Ciprian Sora. Still, not great, but better than nothing.
In terms of UFC, there is no coverage of it at all. I am pretty sure that only hardcore fans of combat sports have heard about it.
In terms of freakshow, we have Alexandru Lungu who's a pretty fierce big guy standing at around ~350 pounds, having a massive strike. But, then again, he pretty much fought only bums as there are no sponsors investing in bringing good fighters to Romania shows. His most notable win is probably Mighty Mo, so you do the maths.
However, there is a guy from Moldova Republic (which belonged to Romania until the russians took it), that fights in UFC, Ion Cutelaba, at Light Heavyweight. He's young and pretty much decent, could get a lot better in time.

To stay on topic, when do you think we'll get the rest of the odds? Really curious about Frankenstein's odds.

 

[Ukram]

another:

Was there not a interview few pages back something about masvidal handling cowboy on the matt during training sessions ? (according to his words)

 

[PuertoRican]

 

[Polarize]

Apologizes if someone posted this. Very interesting interview with Masvidal
At the end Masvidal talks about Cerrone and training together years ago. He mentions that Cerrone had nothing to do against him in wrestling and had to pull guard

 

[Card]

Pena not training altitude.

 

[Polarize]

For anyone that can translate

- UFC wanted us to fight in NY, I signed the contract but she refused to fight ("she escaped" says)
-It is important to have a cold mind, I'm training to improve and I know what I have to do to win
- All rivals are dangerous, you can never underestimate them. I'm working 100% to ensure victory, like it was the last fight of my life
- Focusing on wrestling training and analyzing the way she moves and fights
- Our fight is very interesting not only because we are both latin but because this fight will define the next contender. My goal is to fight with Nunes

 

[Card]

Masvidal - we've wrestled, he knows the type of athlete I am on the wrestling mat, he was dropping guard

 

[Joseph Budden]

Not only is Pena not training at altitude, but I'm watching Road To The Octagon and she talks about moving in with her bf in the middle of training camp

Lol

 

[OneWarrior1]

Hedged out of my pena bet smfh

 

[Officer_Brown]

Pena not training altitude.

confidence increase valentina

 

[OneWarrior1]

Pena comes off as entitled, arrogant and high maintenance. Shev has been humble and seems to mentally have it together. I hope Shev knocks some humility into her

 

[Card]

Nash - I'm in Denver training with team elevation, I was supposed to fight on Jan 13th, I thought I was going to get the call after that fight, I match up really well with Li, I'll knock him out within two rounds, weight cut won't be a problem, came out 2 weeks in Denver, elevation won't do anything to be, i pride myself in my amazing cardio

 

[Card]

Spicely - I came out early to Denver, training at TriStar like my last fight, gives me confidence, UFC first wanted me to fight Theodorou, but we train together, so they found me Chirico, it's a harder fight than Thiago, because he's makes it ugly and he's tough, training at 303 with Pat Barry and Sam Alvey, and FactoryX, Shevchenko spars every day, it's crazy, TriStar has been my home base, I like to sumbit people in the first round, but I'm preparing for a 3 round tough tough fight, trained with Tarec, Garcia, Duffy

 

[Officer_Brown]

Great reports @Card keep them coming!

 

[Officer_Brown]

Fun fact: Valentina had her first pro MMA fight she was 15!!!!!! crazy. She started fighting when Fedor was in his prime and right now she is just 28 years old.

 

[piglord]

holy fuck watching pena's road to the octagon was like a cascade of red flags, i think she's going to get fucked up.

 

[Kowboy Karl]

Man I can't help but feel that because Masvidal has been talked about so much as being underrated and flown under the radar for so long that somehow he has actually now become overrated in this forum. Cerrone would by BY FAR his best win of his 40+ fight career. Currently is is probably Chiesa in 2013. I get styles make fights, but he doesn't bring anything that Cerrone hasn't seen and Cerrone has handled pressure so much better at 170. I think Mas is a great fighter and can't fault anyone for taking a shot on him as a dog, but I think it's taking a leap of faith as this is a definite step up in competition for him and Cerrone only loses to the best.

Interesting perspective

I could see making a case for this

I certainly think the big red flag on masvidal is still and might always be how passive he is and willing to just counter

The Melendez fight sticks out to me as the worst example

Yet in a rematch I would favor masvidal -300

Truth be told it's probably just a fight we should enjoy as fans and not bet.

 

[rille31]

we are both latin

I thought she was ruski, confidence decrease shevchenko

 

[Slohog]

Wait, where did she train then if she just decided to move to Chicago?

Edit: nvm, some BJJ-place. Looks legit-ish.

 

[Shoulder]

I think Masvidal showed way more urgency in his last bout and it seems like he finally realized what some of his problems are. That combined with the call out makes me think he actually has a plan and knows a way to beat Cerrone. I feel good about my one U, but wont add more since Cerrone is such a best at 170.