I'm big on Lineker too MMAGF. I did a big breakdown back on page 7 or 8.
I'm big on Lineker too MMAGF. I did a big breakdown back on page 7 or 8.
Thanks brother I will check it out. I wanted to post my reservations I have regarding the bantamweight bout between Lauren Murphy and Katlyn Chookagian. I was initially big on Murphy but have switched stances 180°.
Initially I surmised that as a natural 125 pound flyweight Chookagian would be to undersized to tangle with the powerful 135 pound Murphy. Compounding that issue for the UFC debutante was not only a size and strength disadvantage but apparently a stylistically unfavorable match up as well. This is because Murphy's bread and butter has long been her willingness to chomp down on her mouthpiece and march forward slinging leather while working for the takedown with no concern of taking incoming. Murphy put her plan in action by striking into the clinch and obtaining the body lock or a single leg to work the TDAs.
Upon further review I have basically switched stances on how this tilt will play out as the only significant advantage I would assign to Murphy is her intangible of having fought a trio of times in the UFC already. Despite being the smaller of the two, Chookagian is the more technical fighter and outpaces Murphy's mixed martial arts training by a large degree. Specifically, Murphy has only been training in martial arts since 2010 while, Chookagian is a lifelong martial artist with a wealth of experience in various disciplines. For instance, Chookagian's body of work includes — but is not limited to — boxing, kickboxing, and submission grappling tournaments. All of these factors continue to shrink the gap between Murphy and tight on even though Murphy has already completed inside the octagon and is a natural 135 pounds lighter.
Continue in the same of shrinking the gap is the fact that Chookagian began training in mixed martial arts when she started karate at the tender age of four and has since aligned herself with a wealth of MMA gurus. Beginning her training at All Star MMA run by Jamal Patterson in New Jersey, she has branched out to train with a litany of animals who include Frankie Edgar , Marlon Moraes, Eddie Alvarez, Frankie Perez, Edson Barboza and a list of absolute savages at satellite campus training camps to New Jersey and training at Ricardo Almieda MMA as well as Renzo Gracie BJJ and Wrestling at EDGE Hoboken. She has been a lifelong martial artist who began karate at age 4 and with the help of these a steam train champs and striking coaches like more Henry, the trajectory of Chookagian has been on a rapid ascent.
In addition Chookagian had previously held the Cage Fury Fighting Championships (CFFC) flyweight and banthamweight straps before coming to the UFC. And fact, winning the flyaway title in the CFFC organization was incredibly impressive of the time given that she absolutely dominated then undefeated prospect Isabelly Varela wo was 5-0 at the time. Additionally, she was the Pennsylvania Golden Gloves Champion when she was just 16 years old. Putting a cherry on top of these Asfoor mentioned accolades is the great distinction of having earned the rank of a Renzo Gracie Brown belt in BJJ.
Physically she is not going to be completely outgunned here either. Standing a svelte 5'9" tall Chookagian is very tall for the flyweight division and will even have a 2 inch height advantage over the 5'7" Murphy. This asset will help to minimize the size and/or strength discrepancy of moving up a weight class. With her long limbs Chookagian fights technically from the fringe throwing long kick to the body and spearing jabs to her foe's face. The New Jersey native is equally efficacious in telephone booth range utilizing a nice Muay-Thai clinch to work knees and elbows to dissuade her opponent from tangling up with her. While she does not work for a lot of takedowns, her BJJ Brown Belt skills are readily apparent as soon as the fight hits the mat as she will immediately lock her opponent up with a high guard and start searching for triangle an arm bar possibilities. She has a very crafty guard game which Murphy is going to have to be on the lookout for the entire time she is on the floor with the UFC rookie.
Most of us are already familiar with Murphy and was she brings to the table. She is a hardnose scrapper that does not mind getting into a bit of a rumble if it means giving her the opportunity to get her hand raised at the end of the fight. While she is not overly athletic, Murphy does have above average striking from the outside yet she does her best work in tight where she can chip away with his knees and elbows to all areas of the body and just be a hindrance to her opponent and expedite The draining of their batteries so that she can take over late where her superior condition shines through. For Murphy to get a victory tonight she is going to need to utilize her strength and tenacity where she can be the bully. This means pressing the action from pillar to post and not allowing the newcomer to gain confidence. Murphy is very strong from top position and can do a lot of damage with her heavy top game. However, "Lucky" is going to need to mind her Ps and Qs when she is inside of Chookagian's guard as submissions will be sneakily heading her way for the duration of the fight.
Again, after watching additional footage and seeing the two females head to head at the stare down yesterday, I don't believe that size is going to play as big of a factor as once thought. If this ends up being the case, I believe that the fighter with the more polished technique will leave victorious. Potentially, I believe the cleaner fundamentals will come from the 27 year old Chookagian. While Murphy is as dogged as they come, her technique is often too unkempt to allow for her to catch the judges eyes. Moreover, her striking power can't be relied upon to bail her out at this level. Too often she engages in fan-friendly wars that can go either way. Incidentally, this was the case in her razor thin consecutive losses to Sarah McMann and Liz Carmouche. What's more, even when she has a clear path to victory she chooses to make it a dogfight as was the case with the mediocre Kelly Faszholz in her last outing.
As such, at the end of the day, I believe that this is a essentially a coin flip fight and at + odds the value is on the underdog here. For that reason I'm going to make a small ply on Chookagian to get the victory and an even smaller play on her submission prop. That submission prop is +1050