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_NoMas wrote:

Reeko wrote:

_NoMas wrote:Any half decent wrestler will make easy work of Periera. Khamzat would have an easy night against that basic a style

If he actually used his wrestling. Khamzat is just as likely to try to stand with Pereira.

Yeah He’s defo not all there in the head. But surely even khamzat can’t be stupid enough to trade with a 220 pound striking monster. Take him down and tap him out quick time!

I wonder when people are going to realize "just take him down" doesn't work against significantly larger opponents. The only grappling heavy champs are Islam and Aljo at the moment.

Dutchball97 wrote:

_NoMas wrote:

Reeko wrote:If he actually used his wrestling. Khamzat is just as likely to try to stand with Pereira.

Yeah He’s defo not all there in the head. But surely even khamzat can’t be stupid enough to trade with a 220 pound striking monster. Take him down and tap him out quick time!

I wonder when people are going to realize "just take him down" doesn't work against significantly larger opponents. The only grappling heavy champs are Islam and Aljo at the moment.

Except Pereira did get taken down and controlled by Izzy, who isn’t even a good offensive grappler at all, certainly on the far lower end among the ranked MWs. All respect to Pereira for getting the job done but his grappling level is straight up horrific for a champ, he was fortunate to face someone who is also primarily a kickboxer without the offensive grappling to fully capitalize.

There are dudes in the MW division (Khamzat if he goes back up, Whittaker, Vettori, etc) who are MILES beyond in that department, and obviously they could get nuked before that if they get reckless, but if they manage to get a hold of him like Izzy did they’d absolutely work him.

Like Chimaev in particular, if he doesn’t get clipped on the feet and is able to get a hold of Pereira, he’s getting him down and ending it quickly. It doesn’t matter if Alex is bigger/stronger, his grappling skill is nowhere near ready for those dudes and his tactic of brute force isn’t going to work against elite level chain wrestlers.

Dutchball97 wrote:

_NoMas wrote:

Reeko wrote:If he actually used his wrestling. Khamzat is just as likely to try to stand with Pereira.

Yeah He’s defo not all there in the head. But surely even khamzat can’t be stupid enough to trade with a 220 pound striking monster. Take him down and tap him out quick time!

I wonder when people are going to realize "just take him down" doesn't work against significantly larger opponents. The only grappling heavy champs are Islam and Aljo at the moment.

Khamzat would very easily take Alex down and finish him. Only resistance would be a knee to the dome on the way in.

Reeko wrote:

_NoMas wrote:Any half decent wrestler will make easy work of Periera. Khamzat would have an easy night against that basic a style

If he actually used his wrestling. Khamzat is just as likely to try to stand with Pereira.

No he’s not. He literally took Gilbert down in the first minute of their fight like he does every fight. Difference is Alex isn’t a 5 x BJJ world champion.

Prez wrote:Except Pereira did get taken down and controlled by Izzy, who isn’t even a good offensive grappler at all, certainly on the far lower end among the ranked MWs. All respect to Pereira for getting the job done but his grappling level is straight up horrific for a champ, he was fortunate to face someone who is also primarily a kickboxer without the offensive grappling to fully capitalize.

There are dudes in the MW division (Khamzat if he goes back up, Whittaker, Vettori, etc) who are MILES beyond in that department, and obviously they could get nuked before that if they get reckless, but if they manage to get a hold of him like Izzy did they’d absolutely work him.

Like Chimaev in particular, if he doesn’t get clipped on the feet and is able to get a hold of Pereira, he’s getting him down and ending it quickly. It doesn’t matter if Alex is bigger/stronger, his grappling skill is nowhere near ready for those dudes and his tactic of brute force isn’t going to work against elite level chain wrestlers.

What I would say is that there's a difference between grappling and take down defense. Conor was a horrible grappler by ufc standards that took on many strong grapplers and they couldn't take him down. Jon Jones is another example of a guy who could wrestle some but even Olympic level guys like Cormier couldn't take him down. Pereira's size if he learns how to use it properly will make him very hard to take down even by good to great wrestlers in the mw division. More so since he can kick.

Cavsfansince84 wrote:

Prez wrote:Except Pereira did get taken down and controlled by Izzy, who isn’t even a good offensive grappler at all, certainly on the far lower end among the ranked MWs. All respect to Pereira for getting the job done but his grappling level is straight up horrific for a champ, he was fortunate to face someone who is also primarily a kickboxer without the offensive grappling to fully capitalize.

There are dudes in the MW division (Khamzat if he goes back up, Whittaker, Vettori, etc) who are MILES beyond in that department, and obviously they could get nuked before that if they get reckless, but if they manage to get a hold of him like Izzy did they’d absolutely work him.

Like Chimaev in particular, if he doesn’t get clipped on the feet and is able to get a hold of Pereira, he’s getting him down and ending it quickly. It doesn’t matter if Alex is bigger/stronger, his grappling skill is nowhere near ready for those dudes and his tactic of brute force isn’t going to work against elite level chain wrestlers.

What I would say is that there's a difference between grappling and take down defense. Conor was a horrible grappler by ufc standards that took on many strong grapplers and they couldn't take him down. Jon Jones is another example of a guy who could wrestle some but even Olympic level guys like Cormier couldn't take him down. Pereira's size if he learns how to use it properly will make him very hard to take down even by good to great wrestlers in the mw division. More so since he can kick.

The problem is that Perreira is 35 and has never really been doing much take-down defense. With that said, he probably did even think of takedown defense when training for this fight.

Cavsfansince84 wrote:

Prez wrote:Except Pereira did get taken down and controlled by Izzy, who isn’t even a good offensive grappler at all, certainly on the far lower end among the ranked MWs. All respect to Pereira for getting the job done but his grappling level is straight up horrific for a champ, he was fortunate to face someone who is also primarily a kickboxer without the offensive grappling to fully capitalize.

There are dudes in the MW division (Khamzat if he goes back up, Whittaker, Vettori, etc) who are MILES beyond in that department, and obviously they could get nuked before that if they get reckless, but if they manage to get a hold of him like Izzy did they’d absolutely work him.

Like Chimaev in particular, if he doesn’t get clipped on the feet and is able to get a hold of Pereira, he’s getting him down and ending it quickly. It doesn’t matter if Alex is bigger/stronger, his grappling skill is nowhere near ready for those dudes and his tactic of brute force isn’t going to work against elite level chain wrestlers.

What I would say is that there's a difference between grappling and take down defense. Conor was a horrible grappler by ufc standards that took on many strong grapplers and they couldn't take him down. Jon Jones is another example of a guy who could wrestle some but even Olympic level guys like Cormier couldn't take him down. Pereira's size if he learns how to use it properly will make him very hard to take down even by good to great wrestlers in the mw division. More so since he can kick.

Conor isn’t a horrible grappler, he’s not particularly great or anything, but it’s fine. Certainly waaay better grappling than what Pereira’s shown. Conor certainly isn’t getting grounded and completely controlled by a pure kickboxer.

And “could wrestle some” is really underselling Jon, as a wrestler he won a HS state title and in college JUCO national championship. He had legit accomplishments under his belt and was also otherworldly talented to improve quickly.

Pereira can improve in that regard, I’m just basing this off what I saw in this last fight, which is a guy who would get mauled on the ground against the top shelf wrestlers at MW. I actually like Alex and am rooting for him to get his grappling right so he can have a good reign at the top. It’s possible, but it won’t be easy at 35 with where he’s starting.

brutalitops wrote:

Ugalde wrote:anyone else find the woman fights to be completely boring? like don’t get me wrong when we get a rhonda rousey or nunes or cyborg it’s fun but most the female fights are horribly boring to me

Nope. Cyborgs just a freak show fight as well. You just had a great fight of Blanchfield and McCain and you come out with this take,

yea it’s just boring. it’s like their punching with pillows. the chicks never knock each other out it seems when i’m watching. idk if the numbers back that up? the big hitters are great. but every other female fight it’s like they’re not even hitting

Oh dang. Rumble Johnson died. Best of thoughts to his loved ones.

https://sports.yahoo.com/anthony-rumble-johnson-former-ufc-fighter-dead-at-38-215300816.html

Dupp wrote:

Reeko wrote:

_NoMas wrote:Any half decent wrestler will make easy work of Periera. Khamzat would have an easy night against that basic a style

If he actually used his wrestling. Khamzat is just as likely to try to stand with Pereira.

No he’s not. He literally took Gilbert down in the first minute of their fight like he does every fight. Difference is Alex isn’t a 5 x BJJ world champion.

Their whole game plan was to take Gilbert down and gnp, and Khamzats coaches were furious that he didn’t stick to the plan and instead decided to stay on the feet.

Ugalde wrote:

brutalitops wrote:

Ugalde wrote:anyone else find the woman fights to be completely boring? like don’t get me wrong when we get a rhonda rousey or nunes or cyborg it’s fun but most the female fights are horribly boring to me

Nope. Cyborgs just a freak show fight as well. You just had a great fight of Blanchfield and McCain and you come out with this take,

yea it’s just boring. it’s like their punching with pillows. the chicks never knock each other out it seems when i’m watching. idk if the numbers back that up? the big hitters are great. but every other female fight it’s like they’re not even hitting

Women definitely go to the judges more but they’re smaller. If you just compare same weight women and men the finish rate gap probably ain’t that huge.

The talent pool in the women is just much smaller. Size is a factor and they haven’t been allowed to donut very long. It’ll get deeper as time goes.

That said Erin and molly are both very entertaining and that fight was fire.

Reeko wrote:

Dupp wrote:

Reeko wrote:If he actually used his wrestling. Khamzat is just as likely to try to stand with Pereira.

No he’s not. He literally took Gilbert down in the first minute of their fight like he does every fight. Difference is Alex isn’t a 5 x BJJ world champion.

Their whole game plan was to take Gilbert down and gnp, and Khamzats coaches were furious that he didn’t stick to the plan and instead decided to stay on the feet.

That’s not what he or his coach said after the fight and regardless there’s 0 parallel between Gilbert and Alex.

He stood with Gilbert coz his arm almost got snatched up and he didn’t want to be submitted. He decided to strike but didn’t strike smart.

Issue is if khamzat gets in a fight he has to strike how’s he suppose to fight smart? His whole dna finish the fight that very second. That’s how he fights and usually it’s on the ground and he can do it. Hard to switch that up mentally when that’s all you know and now you gotta kick box strategically. Not that easy.


He ain’t standing with Alex though, he’s got no desire. Otherwise why not stand with Kevin?

Dupp wrote:

Reeko wrote:

Dupp wrote:

No he’s not. He literally took Gilbert down in the first minute of their fight like he does every fight. Difference is Alex isn’t a 5 x BJJ world champion.

Their whole game plan was to take Gilbert down and gnp, and Khamzats coaches were furious that he didn’t stick to the plan and instead decided to stay on the feet.

That’s not what he or his coach said after the fight and regardless there’s 0 parallel between Gilbert and Alex.

He stood with Gilbert coz his arm almost got snatched up and he didn’t want to be submitted. He decided to strike but didn’t strike smart.

Issue is if khamzat gets in a fight he has to strike how’s he suppose to fight smart? His whole dna finish the fight that very second. That’s how he fights and usually it’s on the ground and he can do it. Hard to switch that up mentally when that’s all you know and now you gotta kick box strategically. Not that easy.


He ain’t standing with Alex though, he’s got no desire. Otherwise why not stand with Kevin?

You got it. Might've been the broadcast during the fight that got that into my head. He wanted Khamzat to stand with Gilbert, was actually upset that he took Gilbert down in the 1st round, but really use his jab and not brawl with Gilbert.

FeatheryTouch wrote:

CptCrunch wrote:

FreeThrowLine wrote:
With regards to the ref stopping the fight?

It would be like a team being up by 12 with 1 minute to play and the ref forcing the team that’s down to bring in the end of bench guys.

Very unlikely they could have come back and won, not entirely impossible but unlikely

More like down 20

The MMA/basketball analogy doesn't work at all because hoops refs don't have to worry about protecting players from unnecessary, CTE-inducing KOs.

(insert Draymond joke here)

It's very obvious that the comparison being made was purely about the possibility of winning, obviously different sports come with different levels of injury risks

bisme37 wrote:Oh dang. Rumble Johnson died. Best of thoughts to his loved ones.

https://sports.yahoo.com/anthony-rumble-johnson-former-ufc-fighter-dead-at-38-215300816.html

That’s absolutely insane, I thought you were trying to troll. RIP

Michael Chandler may not win all his fights, but he's the most entertaining guy on the roster by far.

RIP Rumble, oof.

WestbrookGOATed wrote:I'll never understand all of the hate for Izzy.

He's a point fighter that uses his incredible abilities and talents to pretty much avoid actually engaging his opponents. He has one of the lowest KO percentages, rarely looks for a finish and is happy just coasting to decisions while talking about murdering his opponents.

He also screams pampered rich kid the way he handles himself in pressers "gonna freeze u liek elsa!"

Immensely talented fighter but he seems to do anything but actually fight, just peppers the enemy with low leg kicks and counter-strikes while back peddling.

j_n wrote:

Joker wrote:MMA math says oliveira and gaethje got the best of Chandler on the feet, and poirier got the best of Gaethje and oliveira on the feet. Poirier’s arguably been the best striker in the division for the past 4 years, he just can’t deal with elite grappling, which I don’t expect Chandler to employ effectively.

Just feel like poirier’s boxing is too slick for Chandler, who leaves himself too open. Chandler could catch him early - although even Conor couldn’t catch poirier early in their last two fights - but if it goes to 3 rounds I expect poirier to be looking better by the end. Just sad it’s not 5 rounds.

Dustin was on his feet when he was finished by Charles, and while he did knock Justin out I wouldn't bet on him to do it again if they rematched. Chandler can finish anyone in the division with a single strike, should be a great fight.

I'm hoping Chandler wins because I think he has the better shot against Islam, though honestly the next shot should be given to Beneil Dariush.

As far as the main event, I wonder if Izzy tries to grapple, it should be his biggest advantage against Parreira.

Charles didn’t finish him with strikes on the feet but took his back so it’s kind of a moot technicality to bring that up. When I say Dustin got the best of Charles on the feet, I mean in terms of all the standing striking exchanges.

So Dustin looked better on the feet as I figured he would, Chandler was forced to grapple which Dustin fended off well. Wasn’t expecting Dustin to win by sub though.

Where'd y'all come from?