Elsalvajeloco

Sage reminds me of the Squidbillies parody of Tim Tebow.

Wyman brought up a pretty solid point about Gall not having faced a UFC level fighter yet. However, on the other hand, Sage is basically a lower level UFC fighter at this point. I dunno if traveling around to random gyms with his dad and cutting down on classes is really going to help his game. Mohler MMA is only a few steps up from the gym he was training at. I think with Gall, it's fair to say he is talented but rough around the edges a little. I think he might be a year or two from challenging a legit mid level UFC welterweight. Right now, I would definitely say Gall is the better long term investment because you don't have the crazy dad factor. Also, Sage is such an offense first fighter and that drastically affects his fight IQ. His mechanics rely so heavily on him being in the driver's seat in the fight at all times. I think Gall getting with Tristar could help, but I think that's a gym where it takes some time to show those improvements. I think we're going to get mostly the amateurish Mickey Gall in this fight, but the noticeable improvements will show up probably in the next fight or the fight after that if he chooses to stick with them. Hence, why I think Sage might have a chance if it stays standing. I think on the ground, Gall might be a little too good for him. Sage is probably always going to have trouble with gritty fighters. Gall hasn't faced any push back in 3 MMA fights, but I seriously doubt he is any worse than Enrique Marin or Cody Pfister in terms of toughness. I think this is one of those fights where it might be competitive now, but the winner could get murked by the loser 2-3 years down the line based on the career arcs. It would be like Miguel Cotto losing to Muhammad Abdullaev (ditto for Kelson Pinto) or Mike Tyson losing to Henry Tillman in the amateurs and then the pro rematches being complete blowouts w/ inverse results. It's hard to make a legit prediction knowing that Gall isn't that great yet, but Northcutt definitely isn't.

Brock Lesnar was suspended for a year and fined $250,000 by the Nevada Athletic Commission. Jon Jones was given a year suspension as expected and can fight in July as the suspension is retroactive. Nate Diaz was fined $50k and given 50 hours of community service for his part in the bottle throwing incident. Also some good news:

There ain't too many non punchers at heavyweight. The ones who would fit that category wouldn't be high profile enough to fight Arlovski. No one is exactly clamoring for him against Luis Henrique "KLB" Oliveira or Viktor Pesta. I don't think Arlovski vs. Ruslan Magomedov would be a bad fight as a Fight Night co-main and likely it goes to decision, but Magomedov failed a USADA test. So yeah, not a ton of viable options.

Derrick Lewis vs. Travis Browne has been added to UFC 208. Tecia Torres vs. Bec Rawlings has been added to the Houston card.

USADA policy where returning fighters have to be in the testing pool for four months before returning to the UFC. This only applies to fighters who were fighting in the UFC after July 2015 and were cut/signed w/ another promotion/retired sometime after that. Hill wasn't in the testing pool at all so she wasn't eligible to fight. Hill is entering the testing pool on Tuesday so she won't be eligible to fight in the UFC until April 20.

You can also add Andrei Arlovski vs. Francis Ngannou to that card.

Being a black actress in Hollywood. That's what happened. http://www.eurweb.com/2011/11/thandie-newton-keeps-it-real-about-racism-in-the-entertainment-industry/# Also this: Oh, and this: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/thandie-newton-im-out-for-hollywood-over-sexual-abuse-coverups-35022578.html She has been pretty damn outspoken about racism and sexual abuse in the entertainment industry over the years. Unless it's window dressing at an awards show and the like, Hollywood ain't here for that.

Cerrone vs. Masvidal is a go for the Denver card on Fox.

This is kinda crazy considering that Materla is one of KSW's biggest stars.

Also, who wouldn't love to see Cam Newton dressed up as a Victorian era chimney sweeper?

Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve II will headline the Fight Night card in Halifax on 2/19. Firas Zahabi's brother Aiemann Zahabi is also making his debut on that card against Reginaldo Veira.

Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie for the first ever UFC featherweight title will happened at UFC 208.

Would Yair and Swanson fight each other with the Jackson-Wink connection? I mean Yair trains in Chicago and it's not like Jackson-Wink is not replete with coaches, but I dunno if that might be an issue. If Cub is fighting Yair, Greg Jackson isn't the dude to take sides unless it's like the Overeem-Arlovski situation. I think if Yair underperforms against Penn (anything that's not a clear blowout as expected), they may pull back and reassess the situation. In the old days, the UFC would say fuck it and give him a legit, tough opponent anyway. I'm not sure about now. I wish Mendes wasn't suspended because I think Yair fighting someone like Mendes would give a better assessment of where he is at rather than fighting Swanson (even though that's a potential Fight of the Night easily). I think this comes down to the UFC deciding if they want Swanson to capitalize on the win or do the UFC want to capitalize on Cub having that win by giving him to someone they want to build up. I mean you can put Swanson in against a Brian Ortega and that might accomplish both. However, putting him against Mirsad Bektic definitely falls in the latter. I doubt anyone is tearing down the door to fight Bektic because that can turn into a one sided ass whooping easy. However, a win over Swanson puts Bektic on the map. There are some featherweight prospects who need a marquee win and a very credible one at that to establish themselves.

I suggest anyone who missed the Showtime Championship Boxing fights from this weekend check out Jermall Charlo vs. Julian Williams. One of the best uppercuts I've seen in boxing is in that fight.

I think Superboy, because of this fight, shows up as a Fight Night headliner next time he fights. Making a rematch with Swanson inside of the next 18 months or so would be stupid as they need Choi to be intact since they don't have a ton of Asian talent available headline potential shows in Asia. They have Horiguchi as a top fighter, but Superboy is clearly bigger name than Horiguchi. There are plenty of vulnerable fighters are 145 for him to smoke in a round. I think a fight with him and Jason Knight would be damn fun. I think a win over someone like Renan Barao would help his starpower more, and you can put that on FS1 and get 900k to a 1m viewers. Worst case scenario, you put him as the headliner on Fight Pass (or on a Fight Pass only event) against a lesser name like Myles Jury or Godofredo Pepey and get him a quick win.