Khabib v Tony & Easy Opponents for Page

I read an article the other day about Michael "Venom" Page getting criticised for taking fights with easy opposition in his two most recent bouts inside the Bellator cage and asking if he deserved the latest dose of venom from his critics. The jist of it was his fight in Dublin was a tune up fight after a loss to keep him in the public eye as a big name marketable fighter, his opponent in London at the weekend was who they could get at short notice because bigger names are wary enough not to go against him without a full camp, it was either that or not have him on the card to the detriment of the card and that he shouldn't be criticised for taking the opposition given to him in that situation. He's essentially a gateway for Bellator to the British market that the UFC has deemphasised. Basically a "wait and see" before criticising Page article because he'll eventually come up against more worthy opposition and that's when we'll know how good he really is. It could be a good move by Bellator in order to get a stronghold in Europe in my humble opinion. I don't have a link but the article was on the bloody elbow website.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson are set to fight in April. Khabib has signed the contract. Some are saying that April is cursed because they were set to fight in April a couple of times before and it didn't happen. Well let's assume it will happen this time. It'll be the toughest opposition for both of them. I think it comes down to three things: 1) How well does Tony cope with Khabib's ever improving striking, 2) How does Khabib deal with Tony's forward pressure and pace and 3) What can Tony do about Khabib's body positioning, weight distribution and body locking & ground n' pound when it eventually goes to the floor. I'm on the fence. Last year I was saying Tony before Khabib fought Al Iaquinta and Conor McGregor. But he has since fought Dustin Poirier as well and was composed when in a choke against Dustin. Tony, though, has destroyed the faces of all his most recent opposition. They look like casualties of war in the photos. But you never see Khabib bleeding after a fight. Is it the unstoppable force against the immovable object? It's tough to call but so intriguing.

UFC Light Heavyweights and Bellator Dublin

I'll give a quick mention to Jan Blachowicz v Ronaldo Souza. I didn't see the fight but he did a lot better with the move up than Jan's previous opponent Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman. Rockhold put on some size and couldn't utilise his take downs against Jan. Weidman didn't have the strength to take Dominick Reyes down either. So for Jacare to go three rounds without getting completely outclassed and/or ko'd looks good from my perspective. I know Anthony Smith had success moving up but he's the right size for the division and Jacare isn't very big at light heavyweight. That's why it seems impressive to me, even though he ultimately lost by decision.
Bellator Dublin has been announced for February 22nd. I had an idea it'd be that date and was wondering whether I'd go or not. I had planned to book a hotel for that date with the option to cancel or rearrange if it wasn't happening or on a different date. But I kept procrastinating. Now that it's official hotels will be expensive if they weren't already. The cancelled main event from September will be the main in February - Gallagher v Ellenor. Tickets are on sale November 29th. I'd like to go but am in two minds because of the expense.

Reacting To UFC Moscow Main Event

Zabit Magomedsharipov beat Calvin Kattar in the three-round main event at UFC Moscow. A lot of people saying that they'd like to have seen it go five rounds. Many believe Kattar would have won it if it was five because Zabit was already showing signs of tiring at the end of round two. Granted he wasn't at his best and got sloppier in the third but he still came out fighting. Perhaps Kattar would've won a five round fight but you never know. Maybe Zabit would've got a second wind in the fourth and clipped Kattar, got him to the ground (where Zabit is stronger) and submitted Kattar. Maybe Zabit would have had a different training regime for five rounds and had a much more cautious and defensive strategy for the first two rounds and peaked in the third and fourth. you just never know. Zabit is very technical and, from what I saw, has a knack for choosing exactly the right moves. So if he takes on Max Holloway it'll be tricky for Max in the first two but if it's a five round fight Max will get into a rhythm in the later rounds and should have the cardio to overwhelm Zabit with volume and pressure. That's assuming it's a title fight if Max beats Volkanovski. I really don't know which way Max v Volkanovski will go though.
I want to mention Greg Hardy before I go. He went three rounds with Alexander Volkov and only lost by decision. I think that's his first loss inside the octagon. The other due to rule breaking rather than actually fighting. He can go three rounds against a ranked opponent without an inhaler. That's fairly impressive. He's not ready for the big time yet but he's making remarkable progress considering he came from hand egg.

UFC244 - A Casual's Perspective

So UFC244 happened at Madison Square Garden at the weekend. Not a single title fight on the line yet it was one of the biggest events of the year. Two prize fighters in the main event who aren't the biggest so-called "stars" in the organisation in terms of mainstream attention the likes of Conor McGregor or Brock Lesnar could generate, although they have been around a long time and were definitely getting the attention they deserve in recent times. But if anyone was to garner enough mainstream attention to have someone like the president in attendance you'd expect it to be a title holder and no. 1 contender, or the biggest name in the sport. But it was Nate Diaz who instigated getting a BMF belt made. I personally wasn't a fan of the Rock presenting the belt, especially since a slip of the tongue in his press conference speech made it obvious he was favouring Jorge Masvidal. He didn't try hard enough to be impartial. It should've been someone like Mike Tyson presenting it, as Nate suggested. But anyway it's just another example of how this was the biggest step into the mainstream for the UFC.
Nate Diaz is one of the most influential people in the sport now. Because of the USADA flagging in the lead up to 244, they have now come out with a list (according to an Ariel Helwani report) of supplements that they are not going to flag people for elevated levels of certain performance enhancers. They probably have levels to which you will still be flagged if you go beyond even after taking these substances but I hope this isn't going to be an excuse that athletes will hide behind in order to get away with cheating. I'm sure common sense will prevail for the most part.
I suspected Jorge would win the main event but I was hoping Nate could do it. If they eventually do run it back I hope Nate makes the necessary changes to give himself a better chance. I was angry at the doctor stoppage but I took a moment and after I had time to think I realised he's doing his job and obviously knows a lot more than me. The impulsive anger and abuse directed towards him was uncalled for. He could be treating or even saving the life of a member of the public who took their anger out on him or someone close to them some day. Jorge was clearly winning the fight to that point and whether or not Nate could've done something different to turn the tide, we'll never know. Jorge could just as easily have seen out the last 2 rounds for a unanimous decision victory.
Darren Till is back on the win column. He dealt with Gastelum better than Adesanya did. I even heard Adesanya say that it looked like Till had watched how Adesanya adapted to how Gastelum was closing the gap on him in the later rounds and Till started to do that early on in their fight. It was interesting to hear Darren talk about not wanting to go out there and thinking about faking an injury at the last minute. That anxiousness has plagued me all my life in different situations but Darren is a fighter and got through it and the win brought his confidence back. It's uplifting to know how positive getting through it can be.
I was also impressed with Wonderboy Stephen Thompson. I thought after his loss to Pettis and what Luque did to Mike Perry's face that Luque was going to get a late ko. But I'm happy I was proven wrong. He had a nasty hand break where his knuckle was completely where it shouldn't have been from hitting Vicente Luque so hard. He claimed Vicente was the toughest guy he ever fought because other fighters would have been knocked out by some of the shots. I like how he said he'd like the BMF winner in the press conference after. That would be an interesting fight - the "nicest guy" against the "BMF" - especially since Wonderboy beat Jorge before as far as I'm aware.
Another big talking point for me is Kevin Lee's head kick knock out. Gregor Gillespie was undefeated going into the fight and he gets knocked out in the first round. A great place for Kevin Lee to do it. He gets noticed on the biggest card of the year. He moved to Canada to a new gym and it seems to have been the right move. As I understand it he caught Gregor with a jab and kicked with the leg on the same side because when the jab hits the opponent is reacting to that so doesn't see the leg coming behind it until it's too late. Although how I heard Kevin explain it was he saw the way Gregor was reacting to jabs and chose his moment to follow with the kick.
I must admit I was definitely on the Johnny Walker hype train. He had a series of quick knockouts and he spent some time training in SBG Ireland over the summer which led to John Kavanagh tweeting how Johnny had an uncanny ability to generate power punches without a tell. He went to Russia after that to train in wrestling. Corey Anderson is a wrestler but I thought Walker would have the athletic prowess to stuff it out with the right training. I suspected Corey had the power to get a surprise ko but I didn't believe it would happen. Surprisingly Walker looked all over the place defensively and had no answer for Anderson on the feet. Experience is a wonderful thing and you could tell who had the most in this. Walker seemed to be prepared for Anderson to use his jab to get in and change levels for the take down so kept his hands low and when Anderson saw his chin exposed as a result he took the opportunity to strike. Maybe I'm jumping from a derailed hype train to a new one but, judging by his attitude and the significance of the victory, he can potentially be good competition for Jones.
I'm delighted Derrick Lewis won. They say it was a controversial decision but i'm no expert and would need to see something like a breakdown of the fight from The Weasle to form a better opinion. This brings me to the other talking point about the event - the judges. Apparently the NYSAC uses boxing judges for MMA and it was said that they don't know everything to look for in these fights. So they tended to favour guys going forward with punches. Also clinches don't count and are usually broken up in boxing whereas they're an integral part of MMA. But this still doesn't explain the 30-27 one judge gave in favour of Gastelum against Till when he definitely didn't win every round. Two solutions here imo: 1) give the judges more MMA training and experience in what they're supposed to be judging. 2) Get in judges who are specific to the requirements of MMA.