Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-32783267-20181208055242

This PPV will be the last to final one to be aired on FOX if I am right and boy this month is stacked with solid events throughout. We will have Jones and Gus rematch along with the unlikely return of Mayweather and the cross promotion of Bellator and Rizin with their respective champions (War Gucchi!!). And of course this event, which has many potential exciting fights with well-known fighters spread across the cards. It’s an interesting time to be a MMA fan indeed (although the Fighting in the Age of Loneliness documentary would beg to defer apparently).

And here we go…

UFC 230: THIS IS HOW YOUR BRAIN LOOKS LIKE WITH WEIGHT-CUTTING

UFC 231 is headlined by the Featherweight title fight between Holloway and Ortega and co-headlined by the title fight for a vacant Female Flyweight title with Joanna and Valentina. On closer look, it struck to me that most of the fights have some connections between each other with a common factor being the weight issue.

As we all know weight-cutting is a hotly debated subject among MMA enthusiasts and pros-alike. Some say weight-cutting can level the playing ground as every fighters are cutting weight while the detractors would counter with how fighters perform better at higher weight classes where they do not have to kill themselves to make weight, not to mention higher risk of brain trauma. All and all, the whole weight-cutting thing do not really make sense anyways because after making weight, fighters rehydrated themselves up and came into fight 2 or three weight classes higher than their billed weight. I hope UFC would implement some system before a PR disaster strike.

Holloway became infamous throughout this year for having complications regarding his weight-cutting and he is really huge for a Featherweight fighter, so it’s no surprise that people are doubting his ability to make weight after pulling out from UFC 223 and 226 (it’s complicated). Joanna is moving up from Strawweight after her latest victory over Tecia Torres to snatch a second gold under her belt. Leading up to a rematch with Rose, Joanna blamed her disastrous weight-cut for her downfall and it did seemed to be a legitimate as she can take shots better the second time around. So, it is interesting to see how she will perform at a higher weight class against Valentina, who spectacularly crushed a can in her last outing. Similarly, Thiago Santos got floored by Branch at Middleweight and appeared quite chinny but he was able to brawl with Eryk Anders at Light Heavyweight which also seems to be his natural weight anyways. However, Eryk seemed to return to Middleweight in this card though. And don’t forget Gunnar, who chose to fight at a weight class higher despite the size disadvantage.

Honest opinions:

Holloway (c) vs. Ortega – Holloway is mainly a volume striker and a slow starter who gears up as the fight went on while Ortega is a Gracie JJ fighter with serviceable striking and is coming into this fight by winning fights he was mostly losing until he invoke some otherworldly magic to snatch a win. Also, both of the fighters finished most of their fights in the third round, so I’m expecting a finish in third or fourth round with a slim chance of decision as both do not seem too keen on going the distance.

Despite being a champ with a whopping 12 fight win streak, Max never faced high level wrestlers in Chad and Frankie (although he had a size advantage on both them). The only notable TDD (Takedown Defense) Max displayed was against Ricardo and since Ortega do not look like a guy to shot for takedowns persistently, TDD is not going to be a big factor compared to Submission Defense in my opinion. The Blessed one also has submission wins of his own and he used them in conjunction with his volume striking, as a way to keep his opponents guessing while he deliver a whooping on them.

Ortega is an enigma in that he is behind the scorecards in every fight of his until he snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat out of nowhere. His boxing in general is solid enough that he managed to force Moicano to shot into a Guillotine despite winning the fight on feet for two rounds, though his elbow still looks quite wonky at times. T-City is a Gracie blackbelt and it showed in his ability to submit his opponents with his strong fundamentals, a signature of Gracie JJ guys. Despite the hype, I don’t think he has too much to offer except the grappling to the reigning champ and the Blue Eyed Devil has lower chance of bring gold back to his home in my opinion.

On the meme side, The Hawaiian has not only GQ Curse and Drake Curse, but also Kenny Florian Curse going for him compared to Brain’s only GQ Curse. The odds are not good for the defending champ but I sure am excited. And of course, I favor the Champ in this fight.

Shevchenko vs. Jedrzejczyk – Narrative said The Bullet had already beaten the former Strawweight queen in their three encounters in Muay Thai. Also Shevchenko had beaten the likes of former champion Holly Holms, submitted the grappler Juliana into motherhood and fought bigger fighters in general. Not only that she whooped her opponent in her last fight so bad that referee Mario is no longer anywhere to be seen in the Octagon, so logically speaking it would be a cakewalk for the Shev. However, the context matters and it means even more here.

The duo’s Muay Thai encounters took place when Joanna was just 4 years into her career, beginning as a means to keep herself fit (no joking), while Valentina was already a seasoned fighter who had begun her training at the age of seven. Also, the fights apparently took place in promotions that have connections with Shevchenko family (I’m not accusing her of shadiness, mind you) and bigger gloves of MT helped The Bullet in their fights. In her UFC career, Valentina did beat Holm by being a better counter striker but it’s quite clear by now that Holm suck at entering into exchanges (Ish-ish anyone?) but Holly’s stock was still high riding the hype of iconic smashing of Ronda Rousey, so Val got recognition of course. Her latest outing also saw her being matched up with a former drug addict who had no business of being in the octagon with Shevchenko to be honest. And lastly, UFC really wanted her to be a champ as she is marketable(?) to guys and if you want proof, look no further than the game files that presents in UFC Mobile where they have a portrait of her with the belt before her second fight with Nunes.

This by no means is a slam on Valentina and her abilities as a fighter but just to make things clear on a broader perspective. People complained of Joanna not being to accept her loses to Rose but Valentina is also in the same boat as she claims she won the title fight despite doing bare minimum as she usually does in such a close fight. In other words, it seems many people have a false perception upon Valentina as a fighter in my opinion, as people seems to mistake her as a killer who was ducked by many opponents when she is a great fighter who loves to lay back and counter strike. On the other hand, Joanna is mostly a volume striker with a solid well roundedness in her game. And she has Mike(y) Brown in her corner so this would be interesting. Overall, I think this fight will be more competitive than the odds are implying.

Oliveira vs. Nelson – Gunni is back after recovering from meniscus tear this year after recovering from consecutive eyepokes within a minute from a serial eyepoker Ponzinibbio last year. Oliveira is also building a momentum around him as a Brazilian Cowboy this year. Both fighters fight in a Karate-esque style but I think Gunnar has been doing it longer than Alex did but I’m pretty sure Nelson is still coming short in physical department due to his reluctance to cut weight. I expect fireworks and not grapplefest as Gunni appears to forget he’s a grappler at times. It’s hard to blame him especially after getting rag-dolled by Maia in their encounter years ago.

Dawodu vs. Bochniak – Nothing to say but Kyle did grab people’s attention in his fight with Zabit with his relentless offense despite being tee-off most of the part by the Lincoln-lookalike Hypetrain. I wish he don’t rely on his chin too much in this fight and I hope he will show whether or not he belongs in the upper echelons of the Featherweight division.

Manuwa vs. Santos – Jimi quite unfortunately got himself injured just before his scheduled bout with Santos months ago and Santos went on to tango with Anders to put up a performance of their life. Now Manuwa is back and he will test the former Middleweight while probably still trying to get a shot at the belt which becomes more unlikely as time goes on. In mean time, most fighters in Middleweight will realize how barren Light Heavyweight really is other than the top five LHWs and will definitely flood into the division as the frontrunner Anthony Smith have paved the way.

Gadelha vs. Ansaroff – I thought Claudia was supposed to fight in the main card. Well perhaps UFC didn’t want her to get compromised by fighting in the main card with her (alleged) beau, Brian Ortega. She’s taking on Nina Ansaroff aka Nunes fiancé who is mostly a striker. Gadelha is well rounded but her greatest enemy would be herself in the form of her gastank. I cannot fathom how a fighter of lower weight class as her would have such lackluster cardio in contrary to the norm (apparently the blame is also on weight cut). Yet I still see her edging a decision out even if she ended up gassed early on.. and if her knee is fine as she claimed.

Theodorou vs. Anders – I’ve never seen the Mane Event fought, but the general consensus implies he’s a boring ass spammy point fighter who everyone wants to see him lose. Anders is a great athlete (as far as I know) and his performance against Santos was indeed hampered by the lack of prep time for him. And I’m also surprised how quick he decided to turnaround after that kind of war. I’m going with Anders but the best man will win of course.

I don’t have time to elaborate on further but the event also has known names like Olivier Aubin-Mercier (OAM), Gilbert Burns, Jessica Eye (who really needs to back her words in this fight) and so on.

Conclusion: So there it is guys (and girls). I hope you all would participate in it as long as it's civil. I'm sorry if I got some grammer errors (English is my secondish language) or too wordy (or sarcastic) with the whole thing. Feel free to let me know. Cheers :) 