j4remi wrote:Some fights worth watching this weekend fam, including a potential contender fight for Jon Jones' next opponent if Reyes doesn't get an immediate rematch; a real sleeper fight that I'm legitimately hype for fam; and the most unorthodox athlete in the UFC vs its biggest psycho in the octagon...
Blachowicz vs Anderson: If Jones vs Reyes hadn't been so close, this would be the guaranteed number one contender fight at LHW. Blachowicz has won 6 of his last 7, only losing to Thiago Santos who damn near beat Jones. Anderson is on a 4 fight win streak over some high ranked LHW's including the most hype prospect out there Johnny Walker...Anderson also beat Blachowicz the first time they fought convincingly.
Blachowicz is a really good striker who has improved his wrestling over the years, but his most recent struggles have come against wrestlers like Anderson. He did shut down takedown attempts from both Luke Rockhold and Jacare Souza in his past two fights though and he's shown more pop in recent fights. Anderson has been smothering guys in a manner that got him the boring label, but he just knocked out Walker.
If I'm being honest, I could see this getting caught up in a lot of clinches. Anderson is a bit chinny and Jan is dangerous, so his smartest approach to go back to wet blanket mode. Corey's being hyped as a potential guy to beat Jones and I don't see it tbh. I'm rooting for Blachowicz, but hard not to look at their first fight and wonder if Jan can come up with an adequate answer.
Lando Vannata vs Yancy Medeiros: Fam, these two dudes are prone to getting into absolute wars, they're hard to hurt and neither guy ever goes out without brawling. These dudes have 9 post fight bonuses between them and they're my odds on favorite for fight of the night tomorrow. Yancy is Max Holloway's training partner and loses almost exclusively to high level cats like Cowboy, Gillespie and Jim Poirier. Vannata went to war with Tony Ferguson but has had some let downs in fights where his brawler mentality got him in trouble.
Vannata has some really great kicks and athleticism in general. He's a monster in space but happy to box in the pocket. Medeiros isn't the same athlete, but he's a bigger and stronger fighter. He'll probably look to press Vannata and win from inside by forcing that brawl. Medeiros could get in trouble though because he's not great defensively, he's the type to walk through damage and wear his opponent out. That could get him kicked in the head if he's not careful...he might not stay down anyway though.
Michael Perreira vs Diego Sanchez: Michel Perreira is the dude that does cartwheels and backflips into kicks and punches. He's super athletic and hits hard as hell, but wastes a TON of energy...but he's wildly entertaining to watch. Diego Sanchez, you know him...he's been brawling since he won the very first TUF. Sanchez has aged and lost a big step, but his toughness and cardio has still helped him to some wins over decent competition. This is a madman that hates going backwards against a similarly crazy dude that never stays still.
I see this going one of two ways. Early finish for Perreira who does some craziness and scores a highlight..or Diego weathering the storm and beating the hell out of an exhausted Perreira from the second round on. Unless Michel has really changed his approach, I don't ever see his cardio holding up. That said, Diego doesn't move well enough or have the strength for me to be confident he'll last. I'm actually leaning toward the highlight reel KO.
Other fighters worth watching...Macy Chiasson is a really interesting prospect with just 6 fights in WMMA total. She's been fighting in the UFC since her second pro fight and has real striking chops. Nathaniel Wood, the Prospect, is fighting a massive test in John Dodson. He hasn't lost since he was 22 years old and looks like a modern MMA fighter through and through. Jim Miller, Ray Borg and Montana De La Rosa aren't prospects but they're usually in entertaining fights too plus both Montana and Borg still have a bit of upside. Honestly, this card has a lot of potential. They shoulda had a couple of these fights on the Jones card.
Really excited for that Vannata vs Medieros which should be a fun stand up fight of two guys that that love to stand and bang and throw crazy kicks and whatever else. Both also have good ground games but would rather stand. C.Anderson has an unbelievable chin and great stand up and wrestling and Blachowitz has good hands so should also be a good fight and as you said he lost the 1st fight so he knows he has to win this one. I thought Andersons last fight against the up and coming Johhny Walker was gonna be a good one but Anderson looked great and TKO'd him in the 1st round.
It's one of those cards that aren't the best looking on paper but those are usually the cards that have the best fights.
I'm actually looking forward to the next card cause i wanna see that P.Felder vs Dan Hooker which i would think will be another stand up war.
UFC 248 now is on another level as long as Romero makes weight. That whole card is great on paper.
I don't know about anyone else but me and my buddies are really missing FS1 having the fights. This streaming crap sucks. I hate when it goes blurry cause of course we like to be our own judges during fights but when it goes blurry of course you can't see if a strike was significant or not. It has gotten better but still happens once in a while. Also miss being able to watch the post fight show right there on FS1 after the fights at 1:00am. We use Firestick and it's just annoying all the buffering and crap you gotta go through to get to them. The whole thing annoys us but ESPN is paying the UFC so much damn money to have them that we're pretty sure it's something we'll just have to deal with for a while.
