MMA Live Event Discussion Thread, Summer Thru Fall 2025

[jaedmc]

Love Jiri, but I've got a huge soft spot for Khalil Rountree, and hated seeing so much great work from rounds 1 and 2 get obliterated like that. But that's kinda Jiri in a nutshell. Lots of coaches tell their fighters who are losing 2-0 rounds that they need their fighter to just throw caution to the wind and get a finish. Jiri may be one of the very few who will die on his sword to do just that. 

[The Natural]

I've a sneaky feeling Cory Sandhagen gets the upset and beats Merab Dvalishvili for the UFC Bantamweight Championship.

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, jaedmc said:

Love Jiri, but I've got a huge soft spot for Khalil Rountree, and hated seeing so much great work from rounds 1 and 2 get obliterated like that. But that's kinda Jiri in a nutshell. Lots of coaches tell their fighters who are losing 2-0 rounds that they need their fighter to just throw caution to the wind and get a finish. Jiri may be one of the very few who will die on his sword to do just that. 

Jiri Prochazka basically did what we expect every fighter down 2 rounds in the 3rd or 4 rounds in the 5th to do but they never do. Go for a finish or go down swinging. You have to put Jiri away or else he'll find a way.

Edited October 5, 2025 by The Natural

[The Natural]

Merab Dvalishvili retains the UFC Bantamweight Championship vs. Cory Sandhagen in a one sided fight by decision. R2 was a 10-8, maybe 10-7. 20 takedowns, most in a UFC title fight ever. Merab has insane cardio and wrestling. Merab with three successive title defences in 2025. Merab's won 14 consecutive fights. Who the hell beats him? Dominick Cruz is still the Bantamweight GOAT. Gap is closing.

Edited October 5, 2025 by The Natural

[jaedmc]

The heart on Corey Sandhagen is something else. To get rocked like he did in the second round and fight back up after every take down is some Rocky Balboa shit.

But heart means nothing to The Machine.

[The Natural]

Hope Magomed Ankalaev defends the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Alex Pereira so we get Ankalaev vs. Prochazka next because Prochazka has lost twice by TKO to Pereira already unless third time is the charm?

[The Natural]

Bloody hell. Alex Pereira ran through Magomed Ankalaev in 1 minute and 20 seconds of round 1 regaining the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with the right hook and 12-6 elbows on the ground. 13-3 MMA record, 11 out of his 13 wins by KO.  

Edited October 5, 2025 by The Natural

[The Natural]

UFC 320 was a great show. One of the best this year.

[The Natural]

06:11, been up since 12am. Sleep time.

[The Natural]

One last thing. Hope you're ok @twiztor, @Elsalvajeloco, @DreamBroken and @zendragon. Rare not seeing you for a UFC PPV especially one which looked great on paper and delivered inside the Octagon.

Edited October 5, 2025 by The Natural

[Lawful Metal]

I think Ank owed Alex money. Also Merab is just too crazy. Also Jiri is crazy. What the hell was wrong with his legs the first two rounds?

[twiztor]

50 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Hope you're ok @twiztor

all good here! my interest in UFC/MMA has been waning the last couple of years. i watched every numbered event religiously through UFC300, but it was turning into a chore. So now i catch them if i'm home and have nothing else going on, or if the card looks really good. I was interested in tonight's Jiri fight, but just had other stuff happening.

glad the card was pretty great. might try to catch some highlights. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

6 hours ago, jaedmc said:

Love Jiri, but I've got a huge soft spot for Khalil Rountree, and hated seeing so much great work from rounds 1 and 2 get obliterated like that. But that's kinda Jiri in a nutshell. Lots of coaches tell their fighters who are losing 2-0 rounds that they need their fighter to just throw caution to the wind and get a finish. Jiri may be one of the very few who will die on his sword to do just that. 

It felt so inevitable though. I wouldn't call Jiri the Arturo Gatti of MMA cause Gatti in comparison was way, way, way more technical when his fights weren't straight up firefights. However, Micky Ward or young Iran Barkley? Yes, a very apt comparison. He can lose a fight and just get outclassed but methodically work his way back into a fight outta nowhere and then POW...fight over.

Problem is....it's not going to work against the elite of the elite, which is Poatan. That's just a bad style matchup all day, everyday. We just have to live with the fact that's he an incredibly fun fighter to watch.

[The Natural]

7 hours ago, twiztor said:

all good here! my interest in UFC/MMA has been waning the last couple of years. i watched every numbered event religiously through UFC300, but it was turning into a chore. So now i catch them if i'm home and have nothing else going on, or if the card looks really good. I was interested in tonight's Jiri fight, but just had other stuff happening.

glad the card was pretty great. might try to catch some highlights. 

Understandable, mate. Let me know if these play or not in America. Hope so:

 

 

 

FOTN.

[zendragon]

That was a very fun card with some very cool finishes. Just had a long day and fell asleep very early, I loved seeing Glover jump into the big guys arms

[The Natural]

8 minutes ago, zendragon said:

That was a very fun card with some very cool finishes. Just had a long day and fell asleep very early, I loved seeing Glover jump into the big guys arms

Glad you're ok. I'm fucked. Only had two hours kip.

[The Natural]

"Jiří Procházka has competed in eight UFC bouts, earning post-fight bonuses in six of them. He has collected eight total bonuses, as two of his fights earned both Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night honors. The two fights he didn't earn a bonus for were his losses to Alex Pereira. His total bonus haul stands at $650K, highlighted by a $300K Performance of the Night award at UFC 300."

[zendragon]

On 10/3/2025 at 2:50 PM, Cobra Commander said:

Think this fits here but I noticed UFC BJJ 3 streaming on YouTube. Didn't watch much of it. Event looked like it was taking place in a ring shaped like a skate park pit. A cameraman almost got wiped out on the edge once. Would "UFC event that just streams on YouTube" be around the lowest tier of the company? I don't know a lot about BJJ and I don't know if people really into it would like this or if it's someone's side project to take on some companies in Brazil or whatever

Watched a bit of this. It's better than that powerslap nonsense. Sport BJJ is a thing but I don't expect it to take off beyond people who are into BJJ.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Based on what's happened with ONE FC trying to get everything under one roof along with Bellator's abysmal attempt to promote kickboxing years back before their untimely demise, I don't think people who are fans of those disciplines gravitate towards MMA folks doing stuff that ain't MMA. That's even if MMA, now more than ever, is a kissing cousin for all those different sports. With that said, I always figured that UFC would at some point not only embrace amateur wrestling, BJJ, etc. but end up promoting it under their banner. Problem is I think they missed the boat by several years as there aren't a whole bunch MMA fighters now who constantly promote BJJ as the be-all, end-all for their successful in MMA and/or the UFC ala the Gracies or Demian Maia. Yes, there are a bunch of different people who came from BJJ who have done or continue to do well in the UFC. However, this ain't like 15 years ago or more when there were guys in MMA still dominating in BJJ (gi and no gi) as well as regular high level submission grappling.

Everyone who has became top level in MMA are now essentially full time MMA fighters. The opposition is too tough on both sides to continue to dabble and then do MMA. The ones who use to be elite go back and try to compete get smashed (ex. Mackenzie Dern), and it's not like you can really fault them for losing. To be fair, the same thing has happened to freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers who went back after competing in MMA (see: Joe Warren). They use to compete as much as everyone else, and no longer do that and that muscle memory needed to be upper echelon is no longer there. They can style people in the UFC and other MMA orgs because those folks they usually face are probably 1/10th as good as them at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Unfortunately, as people have gotten better at defending or surviving, you don't see as many straight up one sided annihilations like we've seen in years past. I am not a huge fan of mismatches, but that's the only way to promote something that very few casual fans are knowledgeable about. You need that type of propaganda. You're seeing real legit BJJ black belts and grappling world champions come over to MMA/UFC and struggle to submit purple belts, low level brown belts, and folks who just got their black belt from some guy you're not sure is a real person. That's not a good sign for the health of promoting that specific discipline separate from the UFC and getting people to get behind it.

[Elsalvajeloco]

UFC Fight Night on ESPN+ 119: Oliveira vs. Gamrot 
October 11, 2025
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Farmasi Arena)

Charles Oliveira (156) vs. Mateusz Gamrot (156) - Oliveira, SUB (rear naked choke), R2 (2:48)
Deiveson Alcântara (136) vs. Montel Jackson (136) - Alcântara, DEC (split)
Vicente Luque (170) vs. Joel Alvarez (171) - Alvarez, DEC (unanimous)
Jhonata Diniz (257) vs. Mario Pinto (255) - Pinto, TKO (punches), R2 (4:10)
Ricardo Ramos (146) vs. Kaan Ofli (145.5) - Ofli, SUB (rear naked choke), R1 (3:02)
Lucas Almeida (145.5) vs. Michael Aswell (145.5) - Aswell, TKO (strikes), R1 (1:42)

ESPN+ Preliminary Card:
Jafel Filho (126) vs. Clayton Carpenter (126) - Filho, SUB (kimura), R1 (4:42)
Vitor Petrino (250) vs. Thomas Petersen (246.5) - Petrino, KO (punches), R3 (0:26)
Irina Alekseeva (135.5) vs. Beatriz Mesquita (136) - Mesquita, SUB (rear naked choke), R2 (2:14)
Lucas Rocha (116) vs. Stewart Nicoll (116) - Rocha, DEC (unanimous)
Julia Polastri (116) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (116) - Polastri, TKO (strikes), R3 (2:56)
Saimon Oliveira (144)* vs. Luan Lacerda (136) - Lacerda, SUB (armbar), R2 (3:55)

*Forfeits undisclosed percentage of purse for missing weight

Event Bonuses ($50,000)
Performance of the Night: Julia Polastri
Performance of the Night: Beatriz Mesquita
Performance of the Night: Vitor Petrino
Performance of the Night: Charles Oliveira

Attendance: 

[Elsalvajeloco]

Funny I was talking about BJJ not having a clear spokesperson for this era...maybe Bia Mesquita is going to be that person. She just did a number on poor Irina Alekseeva.

[Elsalvajeloco]

TV Off

[zendragon]

I'd be interested in ex-mma/ufc fighters going the sub grappling route instead of the bare knuckle route 

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[The Natural]

On 10/13/2025 at 2:03 PM, Dolfan in NYC said:

 

When I saw your profile picture, I wondered what brought you to this section of the board making a rare appearance.