Signings/Scouting WMMA Discussion #29

[leto1776]

First fight for Ayaka since 2022. Meanwhile, Lopez doesn’t take easy fights

 

[Xuh]

Remember when Jessica Rakoczy (final MMA record: 1-5) comfortably defeated Raquel Pennington? I remember. #stylesmakefights

(maybe that's one for the rewatchers to add to their review)

I've always hepsected Pennington's unspectacular but consistent journeywomanness (every division needs 'em) and in some ways it would be a pretty cool, er, 'rocky' story for her to journeywoman for so long only to finally get the belt as a reward after all her peers fell by the wayside, but boy have I always found her dull as paint drying to watch (in fact I simply stopped watching her fights a while ago) so I have to root for the mercurial MBS to breath some life into the WBW corpse.

Another reason for supporting Bueno Silva - she lost to Maryna Moroz. Maryna Moroz was defeated by a certain Carla Esparza, so if Mayra was champ, we'd have a short MMAmath chain: Silva < Moroz < GOATsparza. Not bad for the atomweight sized 'worst fighter' to have wins over the current flyweight and bantamweight (well, win by one remove *ahem*) (the division of Rousey and Nunes...) champs

 

[Xuh]

The other two fights seem easy to predict;
JASU will beat up Cach-your-eye-ra and stop her. Cach can't wrestle or grapple so Jas can just take her down and beat her up, ideally until the ref stops it probably in rd 2/3. Cach has only an early punchers chance. Jas does seem to like to brawl though and might want to put on a 'show' for the fans so maybe there is a small chance of something bad happening but Jas is tough and so long as she's not hurt bad enough to grapple she can just touch Cach and make her fall over and get on top at any time.

ROBERTSON will submit Viana: Robertson might struggle vs ppl with above average takedown defence but Viana isn't one of those people (in fact she voluntarily goes to her back all the time, pulls guard / guillotine etc). Once on the mat Gil should comfortably dominate and finish her. Viana has only a an early puncher's chance although even that's exaggerated - Viana's KOs came over fighters noted for their lack of durability, and while I've always though Gil is easy to hurt on the feet it's only been the powerful Maycee Barber actually who finished her standing up (and Gil wasn't even knocked down). And she finished Cachoeira too

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Raquel Pennington vs. Mayra Bueno Silva. Bueno Silva by submission.

Gillian Robertson vs. Polyana Viana. Robertson by sub. War Gillian!

Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Priscila Cachoeira. Jasmine by decision.

I just want Aldana to fight for the title again lol. I left could not be less interested in this fight with Pennington.

Women's 135 is a wasteland.

 

[leto1776]

Boy, here’s a throwback!

 

[Xuh]

Boy, here’s a throwback!

Spoiler

 

[aerius]

Is it just me or ufc strawweight division suddenly looks sort of shallow now, especially in terms of young prospects? Zhang vs Yan is a solid champ fight but both are 34. Suarez just seems to go on yet another hiatus for who knows how long. Remaining tops are solid fighters but veterans too. Jandiroba 35, Rodriguez 36, Lemos 36, Esparza 36. Dern seemed to start finally climbing up for a moment but got brutally shot down by Andrade lol. Loopy is probably the one whos next fight I'm the most excited for.

By comparison, 125 looks just huge. I would even go so far to say that flyweight now has more interesting match ups than 115 and 135 combined.

Thoughts?

It's not just you. The endless rematches and generally poor matchmaking at 115 has really stalled out the division and left it with a bunch of aging fighters at the top. I think the UFC got complacent since 115 was a deep and healthy division, probably thought it would run itself nicely while they worked to get 125 up to speed. Unfortunately they neglected 115 a bit too long and here we are, lots of aging fighters in the rankings and too few young prospects.

 

[werepig]

It's not just you. The endless rematches and generally poor matchmaking at 115 has really stalled out the division and left it with a bunch of aging fighters at the top. I think the UFC got complacent since 115 was a deep and healthy division, probably thought it would run itself nicely while they worked to get 125 up to speed. Unfortunately they neglected 115 a bit too long and here we are, lots of aging fighters in the rankings and too few young prospects.

i begrudgingly agree. the rematch carousel of joanna/rose/jessica/weili/carla left everyone else out to dry and it will take even more time for sw to become interesting again. i'm optimistic about this though. matchmaking has improved recently - could it really be that guy who won the ufc's matchmaking competition?? we should call that guy charlie since he got his golden ticket

 

[werepig]

ufc picks this week:
- the canadians get it done at home (as expected)
- uh... rocky? you guys know i LOVE me some mayra but i can't shake the feeling that she's overlooking rocky too much...
- for starters, mayra's hand sits low on her left side, which makes her very vulnerable to rocky's leaping left jab/right short hook combo. mayra's stance puts her head slightly in front of her hips too, which adds to the right-side vulnerability. rocky likes to mix it up with shots and will throw uppercuts and body shots if needed. (macy chiasson had some success timing rocky's leap in and then winging punches at rocky before she switched to throw the right, let's see if ATT has trained for this) i don't expect either to have KO power in their hands but in a war of attrition i'd give rocky the edge.
- mayra's grappling (at least in the lina lansberg fight) i feel is very strength dependent. in this case, both mayra and rocky are very evenly matched physically so relying on strength is a gamble for mayra - she might gas grappling with rocky, who remains very composed in tricky situations (see: 3rd round ankle lock attempt by irene in their fight)

so somehow i went from picking mayra to rocky but as always i'm just here to enjoy the fights no matter the outcome

 

[Xuh]

Although her fights always deliver entertainment, I hope Jasu beats Fathoeira out of the UFC, enough is enough

S

 

[leto1776]

Diana Belbita has a side job:

 

[Xuh]

Diana Belbita has a side job:

 

[PurpleStorm]

The other two fights seem easy to predict;
JASU will beat up Cach-your-eye-ra and stop her. Cach can't wrestle or grapple so Jas can just take her down and beat her up, ideally until the ref stops it probably in rd 2/3. Cach has only an early punchers chance. Jas does seem to like to brawl though and might want to put on a 'show' for the fans so maybe there is a small chance of something bad happening but Jas is tough and so long as she's not hurt bad enough to grapple she can just touch Cach and make her fall over and get on top at any time.

ROBERTSON will submit Viana: Robertson might struggle vs ppl with above average takedown defence but Viana isn't one of those people (in fact she voluntarily goes to her back all the time, pulls guard / guillotine etc). Once on the mat Gil should comfortably dominate and finish her. Viana has only a an early puncher's chance although even that's exaggerated - Viana's KOs came over fighters noted for their lack of durability, and while I've always though Gil is easy to hurt on the feet it's only been the powerful Maycee Barber actually who finished her standing up (and Gil wasn't even knocked down). And she finished Cachoeira too

Catch Your Eye Ra. <Lmaoo>

 

[Askafan]

Jasudavicius v Cachoeira looks like a bonus kind of matchup, I'll go with the Canuck. Not too confident of Robertson, but OK a Canadian double. Class of 2013 vs Contender Series graduate, for a title, it hardly seems real. MBS has the same number of bonuses as Strickland though, in under half as many fights, hope she wins.

Really agree about the rematches stymying strawweight and now they seem determined to do the same at 125.

 

[leto1776]

Trying to push another tatted up mannish Brazilian at the expense of a veteran past her prime

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Although her fights always deliver entertainment, I hope Jasu beats Fathoeira out of the UFC, enough is enough

S

That's some bullshit jazz should be getting like a 50% raise.
Here's hoping savage by rnc, jazz by sub, and MBS by sub with POTN all around (although I would not be surprised or mad a journeywoman Pennington winning)

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Is it just me or ufc strawweight division suddenly looks sort of shallow now, especially in terms of young prospects? Zhang vs Yan is a solid champ fight but both are 34. Suarez just seems to go on yet another hiatus for who knows how long. Remaining tops are solid fighters but veterans too. Jandiroba 35, Rodriguez 36, Lemos 36, Esparza 36. Dern seemed to start finally climbing up for a moment but got brutally shot down by Andrade lol. Loopy is probably the one whos next fight I'm the most excited for.

By comparison, 125 looks just huge. I would even go so far to say that flyweight now has more interesting match ups than 115 and 135 combined.

Thoughts?

While I think 115 is a few women retirements away from being the #2 wmma division. It's still looking quite strong Loopy already heading up. Girls like Gomes and Jauregui are pretty close to breaking out. Ricci and Loma are not old.

 

[thatdude21601]

A bit of good news for 115?

 

[MajorTB]

Seriously pulling for Mayra & Jas this weekend.

I suck a predicting Polyana’s fights but I don’t think she hits hard enough to break Gillian so I’ll pick Robertson by ground & pound TKO.

Priscilla sucks as a person, hopefully Jasmine pummels her. I do worry about this fight being at 135 though, Priscilla is a bantamweight clearly so she should have decided size advantage & Jasmine is super lax in her defense. Jasmine’s wrestling still should get it done.

Mayra certainly has her detracting factors but overall she’s been getting finishes, showing a personality, & she’s attractive enough to be a minor star which is what this division needs.

WBW reminds me of men’s 185 & particularly 205 where a young generational champ came up & outclassed the former generations champs before outclassing their own generation. As a result it feels more dead than it is & I honestly think a Rocky reign would be the nail in the coffin for it. Also worth noting women 35 or over are 1-11 in title fights with the sole exception being an Amanda win.

 

[MajorTB]

While I think 115 is a few women retirements away from being the #2 wmma division. It's still looking quite strong Loopy already heading up. Girls like Gomes and Jauregui are pretty close to breaking out. Ricci and Loma are not old.

I think 115 is more than fine. Dudakova, Gomes, Jauregi, Lucindo, Polastari are all 25 or under. Ricci, Loma, Moura, Knutsson, Vlismas, Amorim, Inoue, & Kim are all under 30.

There’s also a quantity good talent on the regional scene still such as Fatima Kline, Mackenzie Stiller, Dong Huaxiang, Ayan Tursyn, Danni McCormack, Ewelina Wozniak, Natasha Kuziutina, Xiaocan Feng, Jessica Delboni, Giovanna Canuto, & Fabiola Pidroni you could reasonably sign tomorrow & they’d be competitive & entertaining, if not elite.