UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo II (12/2/2017) - Detroit, MI (Little Caesars Arena)

[Elsalvajeloco]

UFC 218: Holloway vs. Aldo II 
December 2, 2017
Detroit, MI (Little Caesars Arena) 

UFC Featherweight Championship: Max Holloway © (145) vs. José Aldo (145) (first defense) - Holloway, TKO (punches), R3 (4:51)
Alistair Overeem (247) vs. Francis Ngannou (262) - Ngannou, KO (punch), R1 (1:42)
Henry Cejudo (126) vs. Sergio Pettis (126) - Cejudo, DEC (unanimous)
Eddie Alvarez (155) vs. Justin Gaethje (156) - Alvarez, TKO (knee), R3 (3:59)
Tecia Torres (116) vs. Michelle Waterson (115) - Torres, DEC (unanimous)

Fox Sports 1 Preliminary Card:
Charles Oliveira (154.5) vs. Paul Felder (155.5) - Felder, KO (elbows), R2 (4:06)
Alex Oliveira (170.5) vs. Yancy Medeiros (170) - Medeiros, TKO (punches), R3 (2:02)
David Teymur (156) vs. Drakkar Klose (156) - Teymur, DEC (unanimous)
Felice Herrig (115.5) vs. Cortney Casey (115.5) - Herrig, DEC (split)

Fight Pass Preliminary Card:
Amanda Cooper (116) vs. Angela Magaña (115) - Cooper, TKO (punches), R2 (4:34)
Abdul Razak Alhassan (170) vs. Sabah Homasi (170.5) - Alhassan, TKO (punches), R1 (4:21)
Jeremy Kimball (205) vs. Dominick Reyes (205) - Reyes, SUB (rear naked choke), R1 (3:39)
Justin Willis (265) vs. Allen Crowder (237) - Willis, KO (punch), R1 (2:33)

Event Bonuses ($50,000):
Fight of the Night: Alex Oliveira vs. Yancy Medeiros
Fight of the Night:  Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje

Attendance: 17,587
Gate: $2 million
Buyrate: 230,000

Cancelled Fights:
Al Iaquinta vs. Paul Felder - Injury to Iaquinta
Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar - Injury to Edgar (Facial)

[J.T.]

That main event card looks pretty good on paper. 

It'll be interesting to see who gets the duke in that Women's Strawweight bout to see who becomes the new 115 lb gatekeeper.   I don't see the winner of this fight beating anyone in the Top 4.

Alistair Overeem vs. Francis Ngannou will be a test of will and chins and suspect cardio.. 

 

[Jiji]

It's hard to know exactly how good Ngannou's stamina is when he finishes fights so quickly. He went two rounds with Blaydes and looked to be slowing down and was heavy on his feet near the end of the second, but that was over a year and a half ago. I would suspect that he's improving that aspect of his game over time, or at least I hope he is. Reem's been far more calculated the past few years, but as Rogan was saying on his MMA podcast... guy has been stopped a lot when you look at just his MMA record, 13 times when you add in his kickboxing career. I don't know if his chin can handle Ngannou's power. He's not Andrei Arlovski but he doesn't have much of a beard. He'll have to be incredibly cautious and pace himself without taking many risks. It's also a rarity where he's not the bigger, stronger athlete in a fight, so that's another interesting dimension.

Elsalvajeloco has talked about Alvarez struggling when pressured in the past IIRC, and Gaethje is nothing but a guy who will push forward and take 2 shots to land his own combinations. Alvarez has a huge advantage in technique, but he gets suckered into brawls too often and doesn't have the mental or physical fortitude that Gaethje has. This fight has FOTY potential, easy but if it's the barn burner we're hoping for, then that favours Gaethje.

Charles Oliveira is one of my favourite fighters but he's struggled against fighters like Felder, who will be desperate to move up the rankings before he becomes a gatekeeper type. Another potentially fantastic fight.

Cowboy/Medeiros could be a fun scrap. I was shocked to find out that Oliveira is only 29. Guy looks 40 easy.

Does anybody buy Aldo's camp when they said he was fighting through a leg injury in the last Holloway fight? It will be interesting to see how often he uses leg kicks this time around.

Rogan was gushing about Teymur/Klose, saying it's a sleeper. Teymur's power is pretty scary for lightweight. Not too many guys in that division have one punch KO power but he certainly does.

[Elsalvajeloco]

This is your annual reminder that Angela Magana is still on the roster.

[Hail Sabin]

5 hours ago, J.T. said:

That main event card looks pretty good on paper. 

It'll be interesting to see who gets the duke in that Women's Strawweight bout to see who becomes the new 115 lb gatekeeper.   I don't see the winner of this fight beating anyone in the Top 4.

Alistair Overeem vs. Francis Ngannou will be a test of will and chins and suspect cardio.. 

 

If Tecia wins we could see a title fight down the line since Rose vs. Tecia is 1-1 and they could put a rubber match on Fight pass or Free TV. 

[The Natural]

You know Frankie Edgar be crossing everything for a Max Hollloway victory as it's a hard sell for Aldo vs. Edgar III when Aldo's beaten him twice. Then again, look at Quinton Jackson getting his revenge on Wanderlei Silva in their third fight by KO after he was KO'd in the first two fights from the trilogy.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[supremebve]

8 hours ago, The Natural said:

You know Frankie Edgar be crossing everything for a Max Hollloway victory as it's a hard sell for Aldo vs. Edgar III when Aldo's beaten him twice. Then again, look at Quinton Jackson getting his revenge on Wanderlei Silva in their third fight by KO after he was KO'd in the first two fights from the trilogy.

The difference between the two is that Wanderlei won those fights based on landing one big strike that stunned Rampage enough to smash him with knees.  Wanderlei was at his absolute peak, and Rampage was still on his way to his peak when those fights happened.  The difference between Wanderlei and Rampage at that point was based on Wanderlei having a strategy and knowing exactly what he wanted to do, and Rampage just getting in the ring taking what his opponent gave him.  The third fight was a greatly diminished, presumably off the juice, Wanderlei against the most strategic, best conditioned Rampage of his entire career.  Rampage had all the advantages in that third fight.

Aldo still has the power, speed, technique, and strategy advantage over Edgar.  Aldo is the single worst match up possible for Edgar because Edgar doesn't hit hard enough, doesn't move fast enough, and can't take Aldo down.  Even if Edgar was a young up and coming fighter and Aldo was damn near done, I'd probably pick Aldo.  Aldo will always be the more dangerous striker, his takedown defense is probably the best in the history of the sport, and his head movement and footwork is still among the best in the sport.  He got knocked out by McGregor because he threw a wild punch with his chin in the air.  He got knocked out by Holloway, because Holloway was the first time he fought a more sophisticated striker*.  Edgar's entire striking game is based on him moving in and out in a way that is unpredictable.  Aldo's economy of movement and hand speed nullifies his movement and he has the power to make you think twice about running head first into his punches.  

*Holloway's win over Aldo is incredible.  He couldn't hit Aldo at all in the first round without eating hard, clean, counter punches.  His adjustment was to throw a dummy punch, let Aldo counter it, and then counter Aldo's counter, which is risky as hell.  If there is a single fighter we have ever seen who can counter the countering of his counters, it is Jose Aldo, which is why I'm looking forward to this fight.  Too bad I'll be at Friendsgiving.

[Elsalvajeloco]

2 hours ago, supremebve said:

The difference between the two is that Wanderlei won those fights based on landing one big strike that stunned Rampage enough to smash him with knees.  Wanderlei was at his absolute peak, and Rampage was still on his way to his peak when those fights happened.  The difference between Wanderlei and Rampage at that point was based on Wanderlei having a strategy and knowing exactly what he wanted to do, and Rampage just getting in the ring taking what his opponent gave him.  The third fight was a greatly diminished, presumably off the juice, Wanderlei against the most strategic, best conditioned Rampage of his entire career.  Rampage had all the advantages in that third fight.

Aldo still has the power, speed, technique, and strategy advantage over Edgar.  Aldo is the single worst match up possible for Edgar because Edgar doesn't hit hard enough, doesn't move fast enough, and can't take Aldo down.  Even if Edgar was a young up and coming fighter and Aldo was damn near done, I'd probably pick Aldo.  Aldo will always be the more dangerous striker, his takedown defense is probably the best in the history of the sport, and his head movement and footwork is still among the best in the sport.  He got knocked out by McGregor because he threw a wild punch with his chin in the air.  He got knocked out by Holloway, because Holloway was the first time he fought a more sophisticated striker*.  Edgar's entire striking game is based on him moving in and out in a way that is unpredictable.  Aldo's economy of movement and hand speed nullifies his movement and he has the power to make you think twice about running head first into his punches.  

*Holloway's win over Aldo is incredible.  He couldn't hit Aldo at all in the first round without eating hard, clean, counter punches.  His adjustment was to throw a dummy punch, let Aldo counter it, and then counter Aldo's counter, which is risky as hell.  If there is a single fighter we have ever seen who can counter the countering of his counters, it is Jose Aldo, which is why I'm looking forward to this fight.  Too bad I'll be at Friendsgiving.

I would say Wand was still on the juice but the Liddell fight showed he wasn't the same guy anymore if the PRIDE 33 fight with Hendo hadn't already established that.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

After watching Overeem in the Embedded, I'm surprised there isn't more fighters (boxers included) who train punch resistance by strengthening their neck muscles. I always thought that was an underrated part of Floyd's training.

Anyway, Overeem might need that

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

 

[J.T.]

On ‎11‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 11:32 PM, Elsalvajeloco said:

After watching Overeem in the Embedded, I'm surprised there isn't more fighters (boxers included) who train punch resistance by strengthening their neck muscles. I always thought that was an underrated part of Floyd's training.

Yeah, in Krav Maga class we're taught to use edge of the hand strikes and kicks to target the neck. 

Hit someone hard enough to jangle the spinal chord and it's lights out when all of those neurons fire at once as the head wobbles and your brain jostles inside of your skull. 

Having adequate neck strength can help you withstand some of that concussive force.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

Yeah, in Krav Maga class we're taught to use edge of the hand strikes and kicks to target the neck. 

Hit someone hard enough to jangle the spinal chord and it's lights out when all of those neurons fire at once as the head wobbles and your brain jostles inside of your skull. 

Having adequate neck strength can help you withstand some of that concussive force.

Besides a select number of fighters, it's a glaring issue for the sport. Starting from around age 11 to 14, boxers in the amateurs are slowly building a tolerance to taking blows to the neck and head. Should you be good enough to move on and compete on a bigger stage, that can be a tremendous advantage. I remember a boxing match in the Olympics last summer where this guy from like Trinidad and Tobago who fought as a super heavyweight got absolutely faceplanted inside one round with a single shot. That guy probably had a minimum number of amateur fights and was likely a late bloomer because Trinidad and Tobago is not a place where you're going to get a bunch of amateur fights and quality fights at that.

Kickboxing converts to MMA usually do a little better but you don't have many that actually cross over in their prime relative to their achievement and credentials. When you do, it's a Joe Schilling getting slept by Hisaki Kato and you question how good those fighters are to begin with. Even Gokhan Saki got stunned a few times against Frankenstein Jr, who probably shouldn't even be able to lay a glove on him.

In MMA, there is a good chance you probably won't even take a solid punch if you can apply the correct strategy. The flipside is that your success at some point is going to be dependent to your ability to take a punch, knee strike, elbow, or kick. Even though I was sorta making a joke about it in the other thread, it's a shame that you have people like a Ronda Rousey and Marina Shafir who are phenomenal world class grapplers yet instantly turn into break dancers on ice skates once they get lanced by one good punch. Granted, it also doesn't help when you stand straight up or run into the strikes of your opponents. Now if you get hit by a shot that was just crisp and clean that would put down 85% of the fighters in your division, then I definitely get it because those things are always going to happen. However, never being punched went from a big advantage to being the worst thing possible.

[sabremike]

The N.Y. Post had what might've been the dumbest article ever written about UFC on their website. I don't know how to do links but I don't know if I'd link it because it would literally kill your brain cells reading it. The jist: PURE SPORTS good, Hyping a fight: bad.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

[Elsalvajeloco]

[Elsalvajeloco]

The UFC needs Dominick Reyes to keep winning and keep looking impressive.

[Jiji]

Herb Dean just robbed us of what was turning into a great fight.

[Elsalvajeloco]

5 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Herb Dean just robbed us of what was turning into a great fight.

On the replay, Homasi's arms look lifeless around the waist of Alhassan. Then he kinda recovers as Herb steps in. So I don't know if that was instincts or Homasi was trying his damnedest to recover but didn't do it fast enough.

[Jiji]

Angela Magana getting punched in the face should make up for that.

[Hail Sabin]

I think Dean would have let it go more if the Sanchez vs. Janes fight from yesterday didn't happen. 

Cooper punching Magana in the face a shit ton made me and most of the TUF 20 cast/crew very happy.