285 - Jones/Gane, Valentina, Rakhmonov, Bo Nickal

[Susan]

Finally we have a card worth talking about.

-Is Jones cooked, how's he gunna look at HW, what's Gane got for him? Gunna be probably the most interest I've had in a fight in 6+ months
-Valentina is gunna roll like always
-Rakhmonov is the ****, he's gunna run through Geoff Neal like a knife through butter
-Bo Nickal faces some poor dude.
-Dricus du Plessis/Derrick Brunson is a great fight
-Cody is fighting some dude on a 3 fight losing streak who got 30-25ed in his last fight

[cowboyronnie]

-I def have to acknowledge betting one of you dudes that JJ would never actually make it to a fight at HW. NO-KG_AI, I think. (Though, I also feel like it's conspicuous he waited *exactly* until Francis had left).

-Neal is no joke. His last fight was a clinic. But I hear you on that other dude. This is a great match-up.

-Cody Garbrandt is 1 and 5 in his last 6 (4 of those brutal KO losses, one an even more brutal 5 round beating from Font). But I'd bet we still hear a commentator say, he's "only one win away from a title shot" or, after he effs up this poor bum, "in the title picture again".

Cody "1 win away" Garbrandt is as legend as "Motivated Penn" and "Sea Level Cain" at this point.

[NO-KG-AI]

I'm not taking a victory lap until the bell rings, Jon has **** it up with less time left than we have right now in the past.

Great card, I'm excited. Anyone predicting anything from Jon performance wise has to acknowledge that we basically have no clue what we'll get. How much has he possibly slowed down from 3 years off? How much will the weight effect him? How much of his last 3 performances was burnout and how much of it was actually him declining and getting old?

Ciryl has come in recently at 245, it'll be interesting to see if Jon actually comes in heavier than that, or if Ciryl getting taken down by Francis so easily prompts him to come in heavier. I hope he's not serious about only training when he has a training camp.

[cowboyronnie]

I'm not taking a victory lap until the bell rings, Jon has **** it up with less time left than we have right now in the past.

Great card, I'm excited. Anyone predicting anything from Jon performance wise has to acknowledge that we basically have no clue what we'll get. How much has he possibly slowed down from 3 years off? How much will the weight effect him? How much of his last 3 performances was burnout and how much of it was actually him declining and getting old?

Ciryl has come in recently at 245, it'll be interesting to see if Jon actually comes in heavier than that, or if Ciryl getting taken down by Francis so easily prompts him to come in heavier. I hope he's not serious about only training when he has a training camp.

Add to that, that he has been training with absolute bums. Sakai and Greene and so on. How the **** are these oafs supposed to be prepping him for Gane? How can he be confident that he is getting reps against partners who can mimic Gane? There is no sign that he has been training with anyone remotely decent or comparable to Gane.

That said, if he actually comes out and looks great, it's just more credit to the man's creative **** genius. Because it won't be from having been from training hard or putting himself through Hell against partners who can push him. We've seen him just rise on game day before.

[Gregoire]

Jones via sub

[Jasen777]

That said, if he actually comes out and looks great, it's just more credit to the man's creative **** genius. Because it won't be from having been from training hard or putting himself through Hell against partners who can push him. We've seen him just rise on game day before.

Hasn't fought for 3 years and didn't look that great in his last few (think I had him losing to Reyes). Not to mention moving up in weight. On the plus side maybe he's figured out his pulsing. If he wasn't the GOAT talent people would be quite skeptical.

[Jasen777]

Over/under on eye pokes?

[Dupp]

Don’t forget Turner vs Gamrot. That fight is fire and card is **** stacked.

[Dupp]

And boy do I hope Jon loses. He’s such an insufferable douche bag.

[Clav]

Don’t forget Turner vs Gamrot. That fight is fire and card is **** stacked.

When I saw this matchup while checking the card my mouth dropped, this is going to be an insane fight, Gamrot is a really good in all areas but Turner looks like the type of guy who touches you an the lights go out.

could be big for Turner to get a win and he's entirely capable, and a ~2:1 dog right now, it might be worth it to parlay a Turner win with some other favs.




Edit: --- ALSO Bo Nickal will fight and if you guys haven't seen his skills be prepared, he's a great wrestler and has a lot more than that in the arsenal, I think he 1R Subs this guy Pickett, who also is a big power puncher, but once its on the mat Nickal will obliterate him.

The betting odds on that fight is -1400/+800 (Nickal:Pickett)

[Dupp]

I'm not taking a victory lap until the bell rings, Jon has **** it up with less time left than we have right now in the past.

Great card, I'm excited. Anyone predicting anything from Jon performance wise has to acknowledge that we basically have no clue what we'll get. How much has he possibly slowed down from 3 years off? How much will the weight effect him? How much of his last 3 performances was burnout and how much of it was actually him declining and getting old?

Ciryl has come in recently at 245, it'll be interesting to see if Jon actually comes in heavier than that, or if Ciryl getting taken down by Francis so easily prompts him to come in heavier. I hope he's not serious about only training when he has a training camp.

Add to that, that he has been training with absolute bums. Sakai and Greene and so on. How the **** are these oafs supposed to be prepping him for Gane? How can he be confident that he is getting reps against partners who can mimic Gane? There is no sign that he has been training with anyone remotely decent or comparable to Gane.

That said, if he actually comes out and looks great, it's just more credit to the man's creative **** genius. Because it won't be from having been from training hard or putting himself through Hell against partners who can push him. We've seen him just rise on game day before.

It’s funny you say he’s been training with bums because jons been over twitter **** on Cyril’s training partners and stand up of all things.

[Dupp]

Don’t forget Turner vs Gamrot. That fight is fire and card is **** stacked.

When I saw this matchup while checking the card my mouth dropped, this is going to be an insane fight, Gamrot is a really good in all areas but Turner looks like the type of guy who touches you an the lights go out.

could be big for Turner to get a win and he's entirely capable, and a ~2:1 dog right now, it might be worth it to parlay a Turner win with some other favs.




Edit: --- ALSO Bo Nickal will fight and if you guys haven't seen his skills be prepared, he's a great wrestler and has a lot more than that in the arsenal, I think he 1R Subs this guy Pickett, who also is a big power puncher, but once its on the mat Nickal will obliterate him.

The betting odds on that fight is -1400/+800 (Nickal:Pickett)

Very very short notice for gamrot but still huge step up for turner. Will be a huge win for either guy.


Bo’s gone steamroll a lot of guys he’s an Olympic level wrestler.

[Susan]

I'm not taking a victory lap until the bell rings, Jon has **** it up with less time left than we have right now in the past.

Great card, I'm excited. Anyone predicting anything from Jon performance wise has to acknowledge that we basically have no clue what we'll get. How much has he possibly slowed down from 3 years off? How much will the weight effect him? How much of his last 3 performances was burnout and how much of it was actually him declining and getting old?

Ciryl has come in recently at 245, it'll be interesting to see if Jon actually comes in heavier than that, or if Ciryl getting taken down by Francis so easily prompts him to come in heavier. I hope he's not serious about only training when he has a training camp.

Add to that, that he has been training with absolute bums. Sakai and Greene and so on. How the **** are these oafs supposed to be prepping him for Gane? How can he be confident that he is getting reps against partners who can mimic Gane? There is no sign that he has been training with anyone remotely decent or comparable to Gane.

That said, if he actually comes out and looks great, it's just more credit to the man's creative **** genius. Because it won't be from having been from training hard or putting himself through Hell against partners who can push him. We've seen him just rise on game day before.

Isn't he full time at Cejudo's gym?

The sport has fully passed Jackson Wink by and is about as relevant as the Lion's Den right now. Jones is still in his physical prime and Cejudo/that little weird guy with glasses are clearly on it.

Jones is the greatest physical talent the sport has ever seen coupled with Cejudo's brilliance, he could legit have a really interesting resurgence for himself. DC was still relevant until he hit 40, Stipe was in his late 30s when he lost his belt, Werdum was champ at like 38. The whole division is just so old.

[NO-KG-AI]

I'm not taking a victory lap until the bell rings, Jon has **** it up with less time left than we have right now in the past.

Great card, I'm excited. Anyone predicting anything from Jon performance wise has to acknowledge that we basically have no clue what we'll get. How much has he possibly slowed down from 3 years off? How much will the weight effect him? How much of his last 3 performances was burnout and how much of it was actually him declining and getting old?

Ciryl has come in recently at 245, it'll be interesting to see if Jon actually comes in heavier than that, or if Ciryl getting taken down by Francis so easily prompts him to come in heavier. I hope he's not serious about only training when he has a training camp.

Add to that, that he has been training with absolute bums. Sakai and Greene and so on. How the **** are these oafs supposed to be prepping him for Gane? How can he be confident that he is getting reps against partners who can mimic Gane? There is no sign that he has been training with anyone remotely decent or comparable to Gane.

That said, if he actually comes out and looks great, it's just more credit to the man's creative **** genius. Because it won't be from having been from training hard or putting himself through Hell against partners who can push him. We've seen him just rise on game day before.

Isn't he full time at Cejudo's gym?

The sport has fully passed Jackson Wink by and is about as relevant as the Lion's Den right now. Jones is still in his physical prime and Cejudo/that little weird guy with glasses are clearly on it.

Jones is the greatest physical talent the sport has ever seen coupled with Cejudo's brilliance, he could legit have a really interesting resurgence for himself. DC was still relevant until he hit 40, Stipe was in his late 30s when he lost his belt, Werdum was champ at like 38. The whole division is just so old.

He's been at Cejudo's since he left Jackson/Wink as far as I know. I really don't know the quality of training partner there, but that gym seems to be really getting big improvement out of other fighters at the moment.

Even Ngannou is older than Jones. With a major knee injury, and the beating he took in the 1st Stipe fight, he's probably more battle worn than Jones is, despite the huge experience disparity.

But everyone ages differently, and time off can be a detriment or a benefit depending on the circumstance and the fighter. We won't know until the bell rings.

Jon is very calculated and clever. He trained with guys like Overeem and Arlovski for years. He has a way better grasp on how he feels against heavyweight strength and power than people think. He's not going in blind, or going in if those sessions felt too hard or challenging for him.

I know he's a bigger guy, but I really don't think Gane punches harder than someone like DC or Santos, even if he's a better and more dangerous striker overall. He might not have the power in the pocket to really keep Jon honest like he needs to.

I thought Dan Hardy's breakdown on the fight was pretty spot on, despite all the unknowns.

[Susan]

Add to that, that he has been training with absolute bums. Sakai and Greene and so on. How the **** are these oafs supposed to be prepping him for Gane? How can he be confident that he is getting reps against partners who can mimic Gane? There is no sign that he has been training with anyone remotely decent or comparable to Gane.

That said, if he actually comes out and looks great, it's just more credit to the man's creative **** genius. Because it won't be from having been from training hard or putting himself through Hell against partners who can push him. We've seen him just rise on game day before.

Isn't he full time at Cejudo's gym?

The sport has fully passed Jackson Wink by and is about as relevant as the Lion's Den right now. Jones is still in his physical prime and Cejudo/that little weird guy with glasses are clearly on it.

Jones is the greatest physical talent the sport has ever seen coupled with Cejudo's brilliance, he could legit have a really interesting resurgence for himself. DC was still relevant until he hit 40, Stipe was in his late 30s when he lost his belt, Werdum was champ at like 38. The whole division is just so old.

He's been at Cejudo's since he left Jackson/Wink as far as I know. I really don't know the quality of training partner there, but that gym seems to be really getting big improvement out of other fighters at the moment.

Even Ngannou is older than Jones. With a major knee injury, and the beating he took in the 1st Stipe fight, he's probably more battle worn than Jones is, despite the huge experience disparity.

But everyone ages differently, and time off can be a detriment or a benefit depending on the circumstance and the fighter. We won't know until the bell rings.

Jon is very calculated and clever. He trained with guys like Overeem and Arlovski for years. He has a way better grasp on how he feels against heavyweight strength and power than people think. He's not going in blind, or going in if those sessions felt too hard or challenging for him.

I know he's a bigger guy, but I really don't think Gane punches harder than someone like DC or Santos, even if he's a better and more dangerous striker overall. He might not have the power in the pocket to really keep Jon honest like he needs to.

I thought Dan Hardy's breakdown on the fight was pretty spot on, despite all the unknowns.

He's still with Jackson's - watched a bit of this last night and they went over where he is at:

Watch on YouTube

[cowboyronnie]

The UFC's attempts to talk about the UFC HW division without mention of Francis is hilarious. The Countdown: "For the last few years, Cyril Gane has occupied the heavyweight title picture...".

Occupied the title picture!

[jc23]

How is Gane with preventing the take down?

[NO-KG-AI]

How is Gane with preventing the take down?

Not good from the Francis fight. But also, I doubt he had any inclination at all that Francis would shoot on him.

I also don’t think Jon is going to shoot a lot of doubles in the center of the cage, and I don’t think he has to sink a bunch or keep Ciryl on his back. If Jon can make this a fight against the cage where Ciryl can’t create space and is forced into defense mode against a bunch of chained attempts, he’s probably in trouble.

I wonder how effective Ciryl kicking without getting them caught, that might be a big factor for who controls the flow.

Jones is most susceptible in boxing range. You have to bait him into a boxing match and neutralize his attempts to clinch or wrestle from yhere.

[duppyy]

Shakvkat fight is the fight I’m most excited about.

[Susan]

Jones looks pretty good at 248. His core/shoulders/arms/chest and glutes are much bigger - I think he'll grapple **** the hell out of Gane and grind him down to nothing.

Gane's weakness plays into Jones' greatest strength and Jones fight IQ is too great to just go out there and strike with Gane.