The UFC Discussion and Prediction Topic

[pawel7777]

It is going to be hot MMA night in cold Toronto 
I hear that winter this year is colder and maybe that wont be ideal condition for Dricus Du Plessis, that is my main reason to go with Strickland winning this fight.
It is much harder to defend the title than to win it for the first time, so I am giving Strickland only a small advantage.
Odds are good I think.

I'm sure they have heating in the arena and the hotel so Dricus should be fine 
What I'm worried about is that the fight could be over in the first round. If both go all out from the start, the possibility of a quick KO is high, and that would be a shame. I hope Sean's team talk some sense into him and make him be more tactical.
Odds look fine now, pretty much 50/50 with DDP being a slight favourite. This changed from few weeks ago when bookies favoured Strickland.

Here's the main card for the event:

[Zed0X]

So there's a new middleweight champ as Du Plessis defeated Strickland via split decision. How did you see the fight? Looking at the official scorecard, it was the third round that made the difference or it could have been unanimous (2 judges - DDP, 1 judge - SS). Honestly, I didn't think it was going to be a decision but this is a perfect setup for a rematch. What do you think?

[electronicash]

So there's a new middleweight champ as Du Plessis defeated Strickland via split decision. How did you see the fight? Looking at the official scorecard, it was the third round that made the difference or it could have been unanimous (2 judges - DDP, 1 judge - SS). Honestly, I didn't think it was going to be a decision but this is a perfect setup for a rematch. What do you think?

with the way they fight, i would not give them the chance to fight again if i were Dana. they excite people with their trash talks as if they are about to bite each others ears and then the result was like two kids tickling each other. but now that Dana was also showing some doubts that it was Sean who won then maybe there is a chance.

but i think Dana will bring back Adesanya to fight Sean and then DDP after it to which UFC 300 will have a golden canvass. 

[Zed0X]

So there's a new middleweight champ as Du Plessis defeated Strickland via split decision. How did you see the fight? Looking at the official scorecard, it was the third round that made the difference or it could have been unanimous (2 judges - DDP, 1 judge - SS). Honestly, I didn't think it was going to be a decision but this is a perfect setup for a rematch. What do you think?

with the way they fight, i would not give them the chance to fight again if i were Dana. they excite people with their trash talks as if they are about to bite each others ears and then the result was like two kids tickling each other. but now that Dana was also showing some doubts that it was Sean who won then maybe there is a chance.

but i think Dana will bring back Adesanya to fight Sean and then DDP after it to which UFC 300 will have a golden canvass. 

Yeah, it was a cautious and calculated fight.

I would rather see Sean take the title back in a rematch and then face Adesanya for the defense. Dana doesn't look too happy with the winner's announcement but I think he'll be good with any fight among these three within the year.

[pawel7777]

So there's a new middleweight champ as Du Plessis defeated Strickland via split decision. How did you see the fight? Looking at the official scorecard, it was the third round that made the difference or it could have been unanimous (2 judges - DDP, 1 judge - SS). Honestly, I didn't think it was going to be a decision but this is a perfect setup for a rematch. What do you think?

Great fight imo. Pretty much what everyone was expecting, except Du Plessis didn't gas out in the championship rounds. He looked tired as hell from round 2 but kept going anyway. It looked like Sean didn't press the gas pedal soon enough and let himself lose rounds, especially round 3, which turned out to be a deciding one. Maybe he should've gone for a few takedowns himself.
As always, whenever there's a split decision, people are crying that Strickland got robbed etc, but I don't see it this way. I was rooting for Sean but Dricus was more dominating was causing more damage.

Full scorecard:


Rematch? I wouldn't mind that at all.

but i think Dana will bring back Adesanya to fight Sean and then DDP after it to which UFC 300 will have a golden canvass. 

Adesanya Vs DDP would be a fight that makes most sense right now. That aren't that many options for DDP, maybe unless Pereira wants to come back down to the middleweight or if Chimaev will get a chance (if he's fit to fight)

[notblox1]

I'm sure they have heating in the arena and the hotel so Dricus should be fine 

Yes, he was hot and won the fight with split decision, but I think that he wont hold the belt for much longer.
This is perfect scenario for Adesanya to come back and win against Dricus, but I heard some people including Dana thinks that Strickland won the fight.
UFC middleweight division needs some fresh blood and new fighters to make it more interesting.

 

[pawel7777]

UFC middleweight division needs some fresh blood and new fighters to make it more interesting.

Middleweight is currently one of the most exciting divisions in the UFC, second only to the lightweight. Both Strickland and Du Plessis are quite new to top so not quite the "old blood" yet. Plus, with the possible return of Adesanya and Chimaev on the horizon, things can get really interesting.

[notblox1]

Middleweight is currently one of the most exciting divisions in the UFC, second only to the lightweight. Both Strickland and Du Plessis are quite new to top so not quite the "old blood" yet. Plus, with the possible return of Adesanya and Chimaev on the horizon, things can get really interesting.

Not for me it isnt, and I was not impressed with last main event at all.
It was interesting when Adesanya was fighting with Alex Pereira, but he now moved to light heavyweight division.
Compared to midleweight division I like light heavyweight division much more, with Pereira, Hill, Prochazka, Ankalaev, Rakic, Błachowicz, and others.

[pawel7777]

OK, so apparently, according to Tom Aspinall, the UFC had plans to match him and Stipe for the UFC 300 in April, but Stipe turned it down.
Shame, because it would be an interesting fight, but we all know who will win it and so does Stipe.
I can't really blame Stipe though, he probably has one more fight in him, so will be going for the most profitable option available. And if he loses to Jones, he could still be matched with Aspinall later, but if he was to lose to Tom, Jones will not want to fight him anymore.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/mma/tom-aspinall-stipe-miocic-ufc300-31958493

"While we are talking about Stipe Miocic, my manager was contacted by the UFC asking if I’d like to fight him on April 13th," Aspinall tweeted. "I, of course, accepted. A little while later we were told that Stipe doesn’t want to fight me, and he is only interested in fighting Jones.

[notblox1]

For all UFC and MMA fans I have to post this trailer here, and I like that altcoinstalks forum have preview for youtube videos.
You can see Connor McGregor changing carrier and becoming professional actor in new movie Road House 
I hope he wont forget to fight , but maybe Dana White keeps him in roster only for promotion and stuff like this.

OK, so apparently, according to Tom Aspinall, the UFC had plans to match him and Stipe for the UFC 300 in April, but Stipe turned it down.
Shame, because it would be an interesting fight, but we all know who will win it and so does Stipe.

They promised him Jon Jones, so I would not accept replacement in his place.

[pawel7777]

They promised him Jon Jones, so I would not accept replacement in his place.

They promised him Jon Jones in November, but that didn't materialise. What usually happens when one fighter gets injured is that another one jumps in to fill his spot. We rarely see fights just being postponed by a year or so, as the MMA scene is very dynamic, things change quickly and it could be pointless to push back a fight by that long.
But again, I understand why Miocic doesn't want to fight Aspinall. It's just unfair to Tom who did everything right and is still uncertain if he'll ever get the fight to unify interim and undisputed belts.

[Zed0X]

~
But again, I understand why Miocic doesn't want to fight Aspinall. It's just unfair to Tom who did everything right and is still uncertain if he'll ever get the fight to unify interim and undisputed belts.

Yeah, he's in a complicated situation right now. I think it was a mistake on the part of Dana and the UFC to offer the interim belt during the Aspinall fight. It should be these two fighters that should be unifying the belt but then there's also the promise to Stipe. Dana can't just strip Jones if his recovery takes longer and he cannot force Stipe either.

[pawel7777]

Yeah, he's in a complicated situation right now. I think it was a mistake on the part of Dana and the UFC to offer the interim belt during the Aspinall fight. It should be these two fighters that should be unifying the belt but then there's also the promise to Stipe. Dana can't just strip Jones if his recovery takes longer and he cannot force Stipe either.

But no one has broken a promise to Stipe. He was contracted to fight Jones in November, but Jones dropped out due to injury, those things just happen sometimes, it's part of the sport. This does not mean that Stipe was promised to fight Jones in any later date.
The entire purpose of interim belts is to fill a void for when the undisputed champ is out due to injury, with the notion that he will be fighting interim champ straight after the recovery. But this won't be the case here.
So what happens if Stipe somehow manages to beat Jones, will he get the belt? This creates a weird situation when one weight class has two parallel belts in existence.
The fair solution would be to make Jon fight Tom and if Jon refuses, he should be stripped of his belt.

[electronicash]

Yeah, he's in a complicated situation right now. I think it was a mistake on the part of Dana and the UFC to offer the interim belt during the Aspinall fight. It should be these two fighters that should be unifying the belt but then there's also the promise to Stipe. Dana can't just strip Jones if his recovery takes longer and he cannot force Stipe either.

But no one has broken a promise to Stipe. He was contracted to fight Jones in November, but Jones dropped out due to injury, those things just happen sometimes, it's part of the sport. This does not mean that Stipe was promised to fight Jones in any later date.
The entire purpose of interim belts is to fill a void for when the undisputed champ is out due to injury, with the notion that he will be fighting interim champ straight after the recovery. But this won't be the case here.
So what happens if Stipe somehow manages to beat Jones, will he get the belt? This creates a weird situation when one weight class has two parallel belts in existence.
The fair solution would be to make Jon fight Tom and if Jon refuses, he should be stripped of his belt.

it is not fair to Tom though. Jamahal was stripped when he got injured. If Tom the champ right now, he may be scheduled to fight already if not to Stipe probably a rematch with Blaydes before UFC 300. if Jones will not come back after the number of weeks, i think a decision has to be make already.

so many potential fights that is speculated to happen:

Ankalev vs Pereira
Adesanya Vs DDP

[pawel7777]

There are some rumours about McGregor Vs Chandler fighting at the UFC 300 in April, all seem to be stemmed from McGregor's tweet:

https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/1751103834401730884
"McGregor on 300 seals the deal."

With Chandler responding with:
https://twitter.com/MikeChandlerMMA/status/1751136622098485759
"I accept 🤝 See you soon @TheNotoriousMMA #ufc300"

To me, this is nothing more than teasing, aimed at keeping the interest in the fight alive.
I don't see the UFC going for that though. They won't be throwing everything they got into that one event and it's probably not enough time to build enough hype.