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UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero II (6/9/2018) - Chicago, IL (United Center)


Elsalvajeloco

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UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero II
June 9, 2018
Chicago, IL (United Center)

Robert Whittaker (185) vs. Yoel Romero (185.2) - Whittaker, DEC (split)
Interim UFC Welterweight Championship: Rafael dos Anjos (169) vs. Colby Covington (169) - Covington, DEC (unanimous)
Holly Holm (146) vs. Megan Anderson (146) - Holm, DEC (unanimous)
Andrei Arlovski (249) vs. Tai Tuivasa (261) - Tuivasa, DEC (unanimous)
Phil Brooks (169) vs. Mike Jackson (170.5) - Jackson, DEC (unanimous)

Fox Sports 1 Preliminary Card:
Alistair Overeem (244) vs. Curtis Blaydes (254) - Blaydes, TKO (elbows), R3 (2:56)
Cláudia Gadelha (116) vs. Carla Esparza (116) - Gadelha, DEC (split)
Ricardo Lamas (145) vs. Mirsad Bektić (146) - Bektić, DEC (split)
Rashad Coulter (247) vs. Chris de la Rocha (261) - De La Rocha, TKO (punches), R2 (3:53)

Fight Pass Preliminary Card:
Rashad Evans (205) vs. Anthony Smith (206) - Smith, KO (knee), R1 (0:53)
Joseph Benavidez (125.5) vs. Sergio Pettis (126) - Pettis, DEC (split)
Clay Guida (154) vs. Charles Oliveira (155) - Oliveira, SUB (guillotine choke), R1 (2:18)
Mike Santiago (145) vs. Dan Ige (146) - Ige, TKO (punches), R1 (0:50)

Event Bonuses ($50,000)
Performance of the Night: Charles Oliveira
Performance of the Night: Curtis Blaydes
Fight of the Night: Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero
 
Attendance: 18,177
Gate: $2.55 million
Buyrate: 250,000

Cancelled Fights:
Rashad Coulter vs. Allen Crowder - Injury to Crowder
Clay Guida vs. Bobby Green - Injury to Green
 

Edited by Elsalvajeloco
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31 minutes ago, twiztor said:

this card is STACKED!

it's also the first event i'll be watching live. i am unbelievably pumped for being at the United Center this Saturday

MMA live is a really great experience and Chicago fans are generally really loud. Have fun!

Robert Whittaker is one of the most fascinating fighters on the planet and Romero is a wildcard and a physical freak. The first fight was aaaawesome and while I'm not amped up for a rematch, it's the right move and should be a great fight.

I usually don't do this, but I really want to see RDA dislocate Covington's jaw. 

I hope Anderson can win just to have something interesting happen in that division. That she's very attractive doesn't hurt either but that's neither here nor there.

Tuivasa's getting that big softball lobbed his way. I don't see how this doesn't end in a first round knock out and I hope this is it for Arlovski. Guy was a technical marvel for the heavyweight division back in the dark days but it's time for him to move on to something new. I don't want to see him get knocked unconscious anymore. 

I really don't see how Gadelha doesn't ragdoll Esparza. Gadelha does everything Esparza does, but better and then some. Lamas is a really tough challenge for Bektic but a nice bit of adventurous matchmaking. Rashad Evans fighting on Fight Pass Prelims is kind of... Wow. That's got to be one of, if not the most stacked Fight Pass prelims ever, right? What a quality card from top to bottom. And then there's CM Punk. At least the crowd reaction will be something.

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I don't know if Arlovski is a softball for Tuivasa like he was for Ngannou. The leap from Cyril Asker to Andrei Arlovski is a large one even though Andrei's chin ain't the greatest. I think Tuivasa is talented but I think he may be upper to mid level Bellator heavyweight talented. I think people want a more updated version of Mark Hunt when we still have Mark Hunt around. I ask this...who wins between a fight between Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes knowing that Blaydes is super tough and can wrestle?

As for Megan Anderson, there are too many questions about her for me to commit to picking her over Holm. I just don't see where the hype comes from. Unless Holm is just super spooked from losing to Cyborg, I don't see how that doesn't end in a 30-27 win for Holly Holm. 

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Blaydes would probably wrestlefuck Tuivasa pretty easily but what are the chances of Arlovski grappling? Tuivasa punches really hard and Arlovski's chin is there to be hit, sadly.

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2 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

Blaydes would probably wrestlefuck Tuivasa pretty easily but what are the chances of Arlovski grappling? Tuivasa punches really hard and Arlovski's chin is there to be hit, sadly.

Andrei is kinda wishy washy with me because some fights he actually surprises me with what he still has left. When he was in Strikeforce trying to actively show his chin wasn't made of glass and training with Freddie Roach, he performed much worse and to the standard of what folks might think a shot Andrei Arlovski looks like. I'm probably going to pick Tuivasa but I wouldn't be surprised if a measured Arlovski outstruck Tuivasa. Maybe Andrei has depreciated to a certain level, but I think this might be a little bit too much for Tuivasa seeing as Rashad Coulter and Cyril Asker are barely solid regional heavyweights. 

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Love this card as well, looking forward to it. Most excited for Megan finally making her UFC debut, the return of Punk, and Esparza/Gadelha 5 years in the making.

I was afraid Megan was gonna get torched by Cyborg if she got that fight last year, I think she has a much more solid chance against Holm but she has been out for awhile.

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9 hours ago, twiztor said:

this card is STACKED!

it's also the first event i'll be watching live. i am unbelievably pumped for being at the United Center this Saturday

Enjoy!

Liking the look of this card.

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What in the world is Cláudia Gadelha vs. Carla Esparza doing on the prelim card? 

That is close to a fucking main event anyplace else.  I'm glad it's on free television but holy shit, matchmakers.

Normally I pull for the American fighters, but I really do hope that RDA leaves Covington motionless in the center of the cage on Saturday night.

That being said, one of the best things that could happen for the UFC right now is to have a loud mouthed, shit talking, douchebag champ to replace Conor McGregor.  Hatred = PPV Buys + Asses In Seats.

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11 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

I just don't get why CM Punk is fighting. It sounds insane.

 

I don't want to muddy up talk about the UFC show much with talk about Punk, so I'll just put it in spoiler tags:

 

I've been a Punk apologist in the past and still like him.  But the biggest mistake they could have made was signing him as CM Punk and letting him fight under that name.  He might be super committed to training and takes it seriously, but it just looks ridiculous now seeing him go in as CM Punk with only one actual fight on his record.  They'd have been better off listing him under his real name.  Better yet have him fight anywhere else under their banner (not sure where that'd be) so he can get the experience.  But he's gonna fail Saturday and that's a shame.

That said all the cards look pretty damn great so it should make for a pretty great time.  Looking at the matchups I think it's a bad call having Punk on the PPV.  He could have been on at most FS1 and you put a better fight on the PPV.  But I guess that's perks of having the kind of contract he got.

 

 

I haven't kept up on UFC lately, but from what I last saw of Yoel Romero he looked one hell of a world-beater.  That should be an entertaining fight though.  I am puzzled as to why Holm has a PPV fight when aside from destroying Ronda I haven't much from her to justify that.

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With Punk wrapped up in courtroom shit all day for most of last week, yesterday, and today, that doesn't give him a whole lot of prep time before this fight. Maybe this is when he takes a break anyway, but I don't think the court stuff bodes well for him on Saturday at all. I'm a big fan of the guy and think it sucks to have this sidetrack whatever kind of camp he was having. I'm hoping for the best, but I don't think this goes well for him.

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To paraphrase Baseketball, "It certainly does seem to be raining shit on Phil Brooks right now." 

Good for him and Colt. But, yeah... that'll very likely be his only good news this week.

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Mike Jackson is an okay/semi-competent kickboxer, but if he got subbed by CM Punk, I don't think that would be the craziest thing ever to happen. Dude is a photographer and journalist and only fights for fun (FWIW the betting lines reflect that). Punk is still robotic in terms of striking from the little footage out there but I mean Mike Jackson ain't Jose Aldo or anything like that. How hard would it be for Punk to go in for a clinch, trip, and somehow land in side control on Mike Jackson? If that isn't his strategy, then I really wonder what the hell Duke Roufus has been conjuring for the past few months.

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10 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Since it's sort of on topic since he's fighting on the card this weekend, is it possible Chris Amann can appeal the decision against Punk?

Why would whoever is bankrolling this want to go through this process again? What case does he even have? Plus, what in this trial made someone go, "Damn, Punk is dead to rights here"? 

It's not worth it.

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6 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Why would whoever is bankrolling this want to go through this process again? What case does he even have? Plus, what in this trial made someone go, "Damn, Punk is dead to rights here"? 

It's not worth it.

Chris Amann.

By that logic, Amann should never have sued them at all, especially considering he couldn't prove any financial hit he took as a result of this "defamation" other than fans being mean on Twitter.

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13 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

Chris Amann.

That's not really a reason.

13 minutes ago, TheVileOne said:

By that logic, Amann should never have sued them at all, especially considering he couldn't prove any financial hit he took as a result of this "defamation" other than fans being mean on Twitter.

Well, no shit.

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