What's Going On Lately

I'm just going to talk a bit about what's going on in MMA lately. I didn't see any of the fights from Wednesday of last week or Saturday but I saw a few clips here and there and got the results. Anthony Smith took a beating from Glover Texeira. He went all out for a knockout in the first two rounds, gassed out and then lost teeth and suffered a broken orbital bone. Many were saying the fight should have been stopped much earlier. Excellent result for Glover because Smith went five rounds with Jon Jones. More on Jon Jones later.
Edson Barboza lost a close decision on his featherweight debut to Dan Ige. It's understandable that fighters will feel robbed if they lose a close decision at times but some take the loss better than others. Barboza's fellow countryman Jose Aldo seemed to take his loss against Marlon Moraes well even though many thought he won. Joanna took her loss to Weili Zhang well despite being known to moan about losses and I thought she did enough to get the decision. But Barboza is trying to get the decision overturned just because Dana White thought he won the fight. Well there have been decisions that went against how Dana saw them before and they stood. I think Barboza needs to learn from it and move on.
Walt Harris returned to the octagon after the tragic loss of his daughter. Somehow Overeem's chin held up to an early beating and he came back to win. He hurt Harris with a leg kick and that conditioned Walt to protect the leg so Overeem could go for a head kick. The Weasle pointed out a comparison between how Overeem got the finish and how Khabib holds his opponents down against the cage and his ground and pound. It was interesting. Did Overeem and his team drill that tactic because of Khabib I wonder? Looks like they were influenced by it and Alistair has significantly more weight to hold an opponent down with.
There has been a lot of talk about Jon Jones interested in a fight with Francis Ngannou since Jones and Francis tweeted that they were both interested in it. I think Jones saw something in the way Francis beat Rozenstruik and thought he'd fair better because of his movement, technique and fight IQ. The other thing is that Ovince St. Preux moved up to heavyweight too and even thought he lost to Ben Rothwell by split decision, I think that gave Jones the confidence to take a more serious interest. I said myself in my reaction to UFC249 "I think if he had more technique and straighter punches to harness the power he'd be unbeatable. He probably is anyway but I get a feeling that a fighter with great footwork and movement, better technique and a granite chin with the ability to use going for takedowns to stop Francis' attacks can beat him. But it looks like most fighters won't at the moment", about Francis and perhaps that's similar to what Jones saw. But the other thing is something that the Weasle pointed out. Francis took a counter shot to the head from Rozenstruik and an equilibrium shot behind the ear that normally finishes fighters or dazes them just enough to lead to them getting finished. Francis walked through these! Jones isn't allowing for that enough in my humble opinion. I also saw a clip of Francis saying he wasn't entirely happy with how he got the finish against Rozenstruik having watched it back. Francis is a fast learner and will probably improve on those things for his next fight in the octagon. There is also the fact that when Curtis Blaydes and Cain Velasques (known wrestlers) went for takedowns Francis stopped them easily because he didn't blow his load and gas out like against Stipe. So at the moment I think Francis v Jones would start off with Jones frustrating him but if Francis keeps his composure and fights smart he'll connect eventually. I'll go with Francis victory by early 3rd round KO as my prediction for now.
One more fight I want to talk about that's definitely due to happen is Tyron Woodley v Gilbert Burns at the end of the month. I watched Chael Sonnen on Youtube the other day and he's thrilled that this fight is happening. Tyron Woodley is a wrestler with knockout power and also has a black belt in Jiu Jitzu now. He beat Damien Maia in one of his title defences. Gilbert Burns is a Jiu Jitzu expert who also has knockout power. He was the first person in something like 10 years to knock out Maia. A wrestler against a grappler who both have the punching power to put their opponents' lights out is essentially how Chael put it. All of a sudden this fight is a lot more intriguing. I also tweeted that I can't wait for the Weasle's prediction video for that one and he acknowledged it with a like. So it should be an interesting fight.

UFC 249 - A Reaction

Let me start with that main event. I honestly didn't see that coming. It was a methodical demolition of Tony Ferguson by Justin Gaethje. It was so sad seeing Tony looking like his opponents usually do after fighting him. Round one went to Gaethje. You could give round two to Tony because of that uppercut that dropped Justin but Tony had no answer for him after that. Justin was able to attack the legs with kicks from punching range and did to Tony what I thought tony would do to him, punch and move. Justin looked scarily good and in the peak of concentration throughout as he picked his shots with precision. Also, his coach told him take about 10% off his punches because he was using too much energy and Justin followed instructions and looked pretty fresh the whole fight. Tony took a lot of damage from heavy punches and it was sad to see him get stopped, but in the end it was a merciful stoppage. He took heavy damage and withstood what would normally be knockout punches and suffered a broken orbital bone. Ouch! 0/1
I only saw bits and pieces of the co-main event. I'm not surprised by the result. It looked like Cejudo was never in trouble in that fight. Cruz complained about the stoppage but he took a knee to the head to get dropped and a lot of unanswered punches to the head to follow so I think it was sensible. 1/2
I thought Ngannou v Rozenstruik would go on for more than a few minutes if not a round but it only lasted twenty seconds. Ngannou took an equilibrium shot behind the ear and walked through it like it was nothing and he got tagged a second time but that only made him angry. If Rozenstruik had moved out to the right instead of ducking left it would have prolonged the fight. But who knows by how much? His wild swinging punches wouldn't be effective by a lot of fighters but the speed and power they come at you from Francis seems to make them unstoppable. I think if he had more technique and straighter punches to harness the power he'd be unbeatable. He probably is anyway but I get a feeling that a fighter with great footwork and movement, better technique and a granite chin with the ability to use going for takedowns to stop Francis' attacks can beat him. But it looks like most fighters won't at the moment. 2/3
I got Stephens v Kattar right. Stephens went in heavy and still got knocked out. I think anyone who misses weight by that much should be forced to go up a weight division. 3/4
I called Hardy v De Castro right as well. Hardy with the win. 4/5
I wasn't surprised by the result of Pettis beating Cowboy. I went with who I hoped would win rather than who I thought should win. Glad Cowboy took it to a decision though. 4/6
It seems Werdum had an off day. He was outstruck by Oleinik and, from what I heard there weren't that many opportunities to take it to the ground where Werdum is supposedly stronger due to superior Brazilian jiu jitzu. 5/7
Esparza v Waterson was a close fight and I'm disappointed Michelle lost. 5/8
I made my prediction for Hall v Jacare before Jacare tested positive for the corona virus and had to be pulled from the card so that prediction is N/A.
I predicted Luque to beat Price and I was proven correct. I'm told it was another war, which Luque was in a lot of recently. I saw Price's eye and the doctor's stoppage looked like the right call. 6/8
Mitchell defeated Rosa by split decision but I didn't make a prediction for that one so that's another N/A.
Finally Ryan Spann defeated Sam Alvey by split decision in the opening fight of the night. It looked to be that close in the octagon alright judging by reports but it was one I called the other way in my predictions. Total score: 6/9. I'll take that. Not bad for a casual!
There's another card tonight from Jacksonville with Anthony Smith v Glover Texeira as the main event. Michael Johnson and Sijara Eubanks are two others that spring to mind on the card. Oh yes! Ovince St Preux is moving up to heavyweight for the card. Interesting to see how that goes for him. Then there's another one Saturday. It's a busy week in the UFC. I'll talk about those other cards in the next blog.

UFC 249 - A Casual's Predictions

Today, as the title says, I'm going to do my predictions for UFC249 which is due to take place in Jacksonville, Florida this weekend.

I'll start with the main event and work my way down.
I'm going to go with Tony Ferguson for the main event. I think he can outlast Justin Gaethje and can recover quicker if he gets rocked.
I'm going with Henry Cejudo in the bantamweight title fight. Having watched his fight with Moraes and seeing his walls decorated with his winnings from wrestling and MMA, I think he has a tenacity and will to win that'll help him find a way no matter what Dominick Cruz comes up with. I also think Cruz's reach and range are overestimated.
I'm going to go with Francis Ngannou in his fight with Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Both have the touch of death in their punches. I doesn't look like they've used much power or technique sometimes and all of a sudden their opponent is down. Rozenstruik is an elite kickboxer, as far as I'm aware, but we have one common denominator to compare them - Alistair Overeem. Overeem was an elite kickboxer before transitioning to MMA and was swiftly dealt with by Francis whereas Rozenstruik was outclassed by a great gameplan until he caught Overeem in the end in what was a controversial stoppage at the time. 
I think Kattar has the skill to overcome the threat from Stephen's power and leg kicks.
I honestly haven't done my research on De Castro and that is why I'm predicting Greg Hardy to win that one.
I'm going to let my heart rule my head for the main preliminary fight. I'm going with Donald Cerrone to beat Anthony Pettis. I corrected last week's blog after seeing their first fight. It was an easy win for Pettis. But Cowboy is in the prelims now and the pressure is off after his poor showing against Conor. So I expect him to show up and put on a good fight.
I'm going with Oleinik to beat Werdum. Although a part of me feels I could be underestimating Werdum.
I'm hoping as much as predicting that the karate hottie Michelle Waterson beats Carla Esparza.
Uriah Hall is capable of beating the best middleweights around on a good day. He beat Gegard Mousasi. If he shows up in good form Saturday I think he'll beat Jacare, but a Jacare win wouldn't surprise me. So my prediction is Uriah Hall for this one.
Not sure about Vicente Luque v Nico Price. I think Luque can do a lot of damage when he gets into a rhythm but, as far as I know, Price is known for unconventional finishes. I'm leaning toward Luque in this one.
I said in a tweet that I don't know who's going to win in the featherweight bout between Mitchell and Rosa. The reason being...? I don't know those fighters to be quite honest.
Finally the 29% loss rate Ryan Spann faces the seemingly eternally happy and smiling Sam Alvey with his 39% loss rate at light heavyweight in the opening fight of the night. I'm going with Alvey for the win in this one but don't ask me why.

Long Time No Post

Haven't posted in quite a while because I wasn't feeling well. Tested negative for covid 19 but the doctor reckons it could have been a false negative. Anyway, I didn't have the physical or mental energy to do anything other than get by. So this is just a post to get back into the swing of it.
As we all know by now, Khabib is in Ramadan and Justin Gaethje is to fight Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight belt. Another one! Hopefully the winner won't be stripped this time. I'm hoping Tony wins because he deserves to fight for the title more. Looks like the UFC249 event will be held in Florida. Amanda Nunes was supposed to face Felicia Spencer but that fight is off now because Nunes doesn't feel she has enough time to prepare. Looks like Dominick Cruz will challenge Henry Cejudo for the bantamweight belt in the co-main event. There's a very interesting fight headlining the preliminary fights between Cowboy Cerrone and Anthony Pettis. Pettis had an easy win over Cowboy the first time they fought with a savage liver kick after hurting him moments earlier. I hope Cowboy shows up and makes the adjustment this time though. A Fight I'm really interested in is Jairzihno Rozenstruik v Francis Ngannou. Francis has faced a high level kickboxer before in Alistair Overeem, who has more experience than Rozenstruik and was outclassing Rozenstruik until his chin let him down again. Both Ngannou and Rozenstruik have the ability to seemingly just touch people and knock them out so that should be fascinating. We'll hear every punch and kick in an empty arena. I was thinking about this fight and I'd like Francis to win. I don't know Rozenstruik enough to like him yet. Francis also disposed of some big threats in the heavyweight division before and after his title fight, so I feel he has bigger star power overall and deserves another title chance a bit more. That is why I'd like Francis to win but I still hope Jairzinho has success building his way to a title shot eventually. I don't want Francis' star power to fade but I feel it could if he loses this, given the short memories of too many MMA fans.
I'll leave it there for now and hopefully I'll be recovered enough to get back to weekly, or fortnightly if there isn't enough MMA going on, posts from here on.

UFC249, Pandemic Fight Card and Jon Jones

It turns out I am up for a post this week. Since last week's post I've heard that the UFC were planning on stacking the 249 card. They had planned to add Francis Ngannou v Jairzinho Rozenstruik somewhere to the card. What a fight that could potentially be! There is still uncertainty as to whether or not the card can go ahead though.

There we were at the start of the year looking forward to finally seeing Khabib Nurmagomedov fight Tony Ferguson on the 18th of April and wishing, hoping and praying (if that's your thing) that nothing would prevent it from happening. Then something no one thought would stop it when the fight was announced: a worldwide pandemic. As I understand from a translation of a Khabib interview, Khabib was told the fight would be in Abu Dhabi. So Khabib left AKA and America recently for Abu Dhabi to acclimatise. He found out that United Arab Emirates were going into lockdown and no one would be able to get in or out of the country so he went to Dagestan instead. So the UFC started negotiating with American states to hold it somewhere in the USA instead. Russia has since gone into lockdown preventing Khabib from travelling so he can't get back to the USA. So it looks like the covid_19 pandemic is doing its best to prevent the fight we all want to see as MMA fans.
I heard the UFC are looking to book Justin Gaethje to fight Tony but I, as most fans I've heard, would rather they postpone the fight rather than changing Tony's opponent. Some might have asked why not Conor McGregor v Tony since Dana was going to give him the Khabib v Tony winner but Conor is here in Ireland and we're in lockdown. In the mean time Kamaru Usman has claimed to offer to save the card by fighting Jorge Masvidal but that Masvidal cannot be located by his management. All the while Masvidal, or someone with access to his social media, has claimed Usman is ducking him. Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington are also claiming to be ready to fight. Well Tyron just had a training camp for the cancelled Leon Edwards fight so he should be ready.
I'll be surprised if any fight card goes ahead this month  given the amount of fighters that they want to line up for it and the coaching teams required. The number of people at one event will still be a problem for authorities trying to contain the virus even with a closed event.
In other news, I watched the arrest video of Jon Jones. He pleaded guilty to to the charges and was placed effectively under house arrest, which is not much different to the situation we're already in, and given a probation period and has to do community service. He's his own worst enemy at times.

A Casual Reference To UFC 249

It looks like Dana White is 99% sure of a venue for UFC249. It'll obviously be a closed event. It's not just the main event of Khabib v Tony but the whole card is looking to get the go ahead. Khabib has returned to Russia to finish his training camp. Michael Bisping thinks that's a clue that it'll go ahead in Russia. Looks like it'll be outside the USA anyway. I don't know how the UFC are going to get all the fighters there with travel restrictions but I've been seeing passenger planes on my flight radar 24 app so it's possible, I suppose.
I'm dealing with illness and waiting for a corona virus test right now so that's all I'll write for now. I don't know if I'll write a post next week but if I'm up to it and something worth mentioning in the MMA world happens I'll give my take on it here. Expect a post if you see it next week. Otherwise stay safe and practice social distancing.

UFC Brasilia, Kevin Lee and Cancelled UFC London Event

UFC Brasilia happened at the weekend without a crowd. I only saw the main event but I didn't really miss the crowd when I was watching it. It helped me concentrate more on what was going on in the fight. I wasn't too sure who was getting the better of the grappling until The Weasle broke it down but I had a feeling that Kevin Lee was escaping submission attempts so I would have given round 1 to him on the strength of Danni Neilan had similar defensive grappling, thwarting submission attempts, when she won in Dublin last month. I felt Kevin had the better of the earlier striking exchanges but Alex Oliveira got stronger and more dominant in the striking as the fight went on if memory serves me correctly. Kevin Lee tapped and when Oliveira was pulling away it was as if Kevin thought the referee hasn't intervened yet so decided to continue in case the ref hadn't seen the tap. That was my interpretation of the finish. Also, Gilbert Burns inflicted only the second knockout in Damien Maia's UFC career. Maia is a very likeable guy so it's a pity he lost. I don't know enough about Burns to be honest, apart from that he mostly fought at 155 until now, but congratulations to him on such a notable victory. Another noticeable result was that Johnny Walker lost by decision. That's a decent scalp on Nikita Krylov's resumé.
I wonder has the Johnny Walker Hype train been completely derailed now? I think he just needs to settle at a decent gym with a coach who'll help him get back to form. He has a lot of potential and he's still young so I think he'll be challenging for titles in the future.
Now I want to talk a bit about Kevin Lee. It's difficult to be a fan of his. I was just starting to think he was a future world champion but he lost to Al Iaquinta. Then he moved up to 170 and faced Rafael Dos Anjos and basically gassed out and Dos Anjos proved too much for him. Back down to 155, a new gym, a new coach in Firas Zahabi I think (correct me if I'm wrong on that) and a highlight reel knockout against the previously undefeated Gregor Gillespie. Then he misses weight (not for the first time) and Charles Oliveira is one step ahead in the grappling and submits him just as I thought he was on the way back to the big time. He seems to have a lack of focus. Oliveira is an excellent fighter but even still if Lee hadn't missed weight and managed to stick to the gameplan, even if it went the distance and he lost on points, I would have thought it isn't a major setback. But the fact that he missed weight and admitted to deviating from the gameplan shows a lack of focus to me. It gets frustrating trying to be a fan of his because I like him and want him to do well.
In other news, UFC London was cancelled. They tried to put on Woodley v Edwards behind closed doors in the USA but travel restrictions meant it's cancelled. Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns both offered to take the fight. I heard Woodley turned down Burns because he wants Covington. I think Covington would be my pick to win that fight normally even though I don't like him. But Woodley has a full training camp, albeit for a different fighter, and Covington coming in at short notice would make Woodley favourite in this instance.
One of the UFC London fights has been transferred to a Cage Warriors Main event so the fighters can get paid. I don't remember the names off the top of my head. I suggested in a tweet moving some of the cancelled fights to UFC Dublin in August if only the main event has been lined up so far. I don't think anyone knows for how long covid 19 will affect fight cards though. So nothing can be taken for granted in these difficult times.

UFC 248 - A Casual's perspective

UFC 248 happened at the weekend. I only saw the two main fights on the card. I heard that Neil Magny and Cowboy Olivera won. Indeed I saw the two cowboys, Oliveira and Cerrone greeting each other after Oliveira's fight when Cerrone was in the audience. The co-main event was the real main event in terms of entertainment. The two women gave it their all and it was a fitting fight for the eve of international women's day. The way I saw it, Zhang won the opening round but then Joanna found her range and capitalised on hitting the target with a head kick at the end of the second by coming out in the southpaw stance in the third. Joe Rogan pointed out in commentary that Joanna looked to be setting up for the left high kick in that stance. Zhang seemed wary of this and Joanna was teeing off with the jab and managing to find her range. She looked the more dominant in round three. A lot of the exchanges were fairly equal to me but it looked, despite her head ballooning from the fourth onwards, that Joanna was doing well enough to win the rounds. At first I thought Joanna did enough to shade round five but then I thought of how more visible her damage was and how Zhang came on strong towards the end of the fight so before the announcement I went from four rounds to one to a 48-47 score still in favour of Joanna. I was surprised by the split decision but not disappointed. I was going for Zhang going into the fight. I was thinking the fact that Zhang attempted takedowns probably helped her in the judges eyes as well. Looking at the stats, Zhang had way more head shots (as reflected by the damage she did) than joanna in the strikes. So I wasn't as observant because I didn't register enough of them, probably because it was such a fast paced fight. Great fight and I feel Zhang crossed a threshold in this and will be unphased by whatever opponents throw at her in future. I've heard experts say that Rose Namajunas can beat her because Rose is better at moving off at angles and managing distance.
What is there to say about the main event? The onus was on Yoel Romero to take the title from Israel Adesanya but he stood there and waited for opportunities for five rounds. Always waiting for the knockout. Israel took an early overhand to the eye and fought from distance after that. But that happened after the first two minutes of Yoel just standing and waiting. It wasn't a good fight but I don't think it was as bad as people made out. It was tense throughout and that gave it a sense of intrigue for me. Israel point fought from distance but I felt Yoel had the better opportunities for success on the rare occasion they presented themself. I initially agreed with the Weasle that Yoel should have won the fight but when I thought about it later and others mentioned Israel point fighting from distance, I changed my opinion to agree with the judges. Hopefully Khabib v Tony next month will live up to the hype.
In other news, Peter Queally has been announced in the main event at Bellator Dublin in October against Patricky Pitbull Friere. I was considering going to UFC Dublin in August but now I don't know. Bellator did a smart thing putting tickets on sale 20th of March and announcing the Main event. They have a number of Irish and Irish-based fighters to please the fans and if UFC can't put a big name in their event maybe people will wonder about attending at all because how many Irish have they fighting now other than Conor? Plus the last one was cancelled and moved to Liverpool to accommodate then rising star Darren Till. Who's to say they won't do the same with another rising star this time if Bellator sells well before the UFC ticket sales go ahead at the end of June? My only concern is I can't afford a Bellator ticket that soon after the previous event so all the good seats within my price range might be gone by the time I go to buy one. Now I'm asking myself why go to UFC Dublin at all if there's no big name and no decent irish fighters on the card.

Misdirection

As you would have seen from the previous post, I was at Bellator Dublin at the weekend. I noticed in at least a couple of fights that as one fighter would shoot for a take down the other would wrap an arm around the neck and attempt to get a guillotine if not taken down or threaten some sort of submission attempt if taken down. I watched Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder on Monday and a big part of Fury's plan was to clinch with Wilder and make Wilder carry his weight to tire Wilder. The hold Fury had on Wilder when they clinched was similar to what I saw in the 3 Arena on Saturday night.
There was a lot of hype over Fury getting some MMA training from Darren Till and this training probably served two purposes:
1) Get Fury to be able to handle Wilder in the clinch
2) Misdirection, which got the press hyped up about Fury possibly looking for an MMA fight so that he could train his game plan for Wilder in plain sight with no one really noticing.
It could also have given a false optimism to the Wilder camp that Fury wasn't 100% focused on the rematch.
I notice that the best combat sport fighters can be very good at misdirection, whether intentionally or a handy side effect. Take the recent Conor McGregor v Donald Cerrone UFC fight as an example. Conor was the polar opposite, personality wise, to how he was in the lead up to the Khabib fight. This wasn't intentional misdirection, in my opinion, but did play a part in the real misdirection in my humble opinion. The focus was on bigging up Cowboy's enviable records of most wins under Zuffa, most head kick knockouts etc. Cowboy's coaching team were saying things like Conor only has the left hand, Cowboy has better wrestling and grappling, the longer it goes on the worse Conor's cardio is. The press were lapping this up because they were getting stories out of it.
All the while no one outside of Conor's camp could have anticipated how effective those hard shoulder strikes were in Conor's ruthless 40 second demolition of Cowboy. It isn't just magicians that are masters of misdirection. The best mind game players in combat sports are also great at it.
I tweeted this in a thread recently but felt it would also make a great post for this blog, hence the extra post today.
The thread on twitter can be found here: https://twitter.com/aherneamon/status/1232126525107036160?s=20

Bellator 240

Bellator came back to Ireland and had their event at the 3 Arena in Dublin on the 22nd of February. I took my seat as the first fight got underway but I didn't pay too much attention to it as I was getting settled and looking for a full line up of the card and setting up notes on my phone. I was seated opposite one of the cage doors which slightly obstructed my view if they were fighting in the centre of the cage. But I tried to watch the cage rather than the screens as much as I could. I saw John Kavanagh looking at the screen a few times while shouting instructions to his fighters so my view of the action didn't feel as bad as I thought it might be when I first took my seat. The opening fight was a featherweight contest between Adjoudj and Balinta. Balinta won by split decision. Next up was another featherweight contest. Clarke dominated Faulding in a unanimous decision victory. I seem to recall some fierce elbows from Clarke while he was on top of Faulding against the cage. The following flyweight contest between O'Driscoll and Bouarsa didn't last long. O'Driscoll with a 1st round TKO victory. Logan v Murrie next and it was a win for Murrie with a rear naked choke in the first. John Kavanagh looked annoyed at his fighter after it ended because he was shouting instructions during the choke as though he saw a way for Logan to get out of it. The action was happening fairly close to Kavanagh. The next one was a contracted 161lbs bout. Piskorz of Poland had a good following in the crowd but it wasn't to be his night though. There was a big cheer from the crowd in the first round. Referee Dan Miragliotta moved closer to the action to see if he needed to step in. Piskorz managed to break from Duncan and the ref tripped and fell as he was backing away. He got up quickly but it got a big cheer from the crowd. In the second Duncan was handing out too much punishment to Piskorz and the ref stepped in. TKO for Duncan. Will Fleury at middleweight was up next trying to get back in the win column. Fleury was clearly the better fighter but when he went for the takedowns his opponent Moore would wrap an underarm around Fleury's neck and it looked like Moore could work to a submission attempt from where I was watching (noticed the same thing when Clarke took down Faulding). I needn't have worried. Fleury got on top of Moore and worked his way to an arm triangle submission in the first round.

Artem Lobov on the stand with John Kavanagh to his right, cornering Richie Smullen

Richie Smullen was up next. His opponent was Dias from Brazil. It was a close fought contest but Dias got the split decision victory.

Next up was one of the fights I was anticipating before the event. Neilan v Penco. In the opening exchanges Penco looked smooth and the more fluid fighter. She tried to use her reach and height advantage and kept her opponent at distance at first. But Danni Neilan grafted her way to dominance. She more dominated than out classed Penco to a unanimous decision victory. Two professional fights for Danni Neilan and two strong victories. Following on from that was Redmond v Karakhanyan. Redmond looked pretty good but in the second round Karakhanyan locked in a guillotine choke that Redmond couldn't get out of so a submission win for Karakhanyan. Richard Kiely, coming off a loss to Michael "Venom" Page in September, was up next and to be honest he didn't look that good. It looked to me like he tried to imitate Page's style in his fight against Hardwick on Saturday night. He had some interesting moments but ultimately lost to Hardwick with the second guillotine submission in a row at the event. Enkamp v Long next. There were a few good exchanges and Long was holding his own. Then came a highlight reel finish much to the appreciation of the crowd. Enkamp bounced back one step and spun around looking for a spinning back fist. He caught Long with his elbow so I called it a spinning back elbow in my notes. First round KO for Enkamp by spinning back elbow. He went in with a couple of hammer fists but the ref was already moving in to stop the fight as he was swinging them. Long was already out.

Franz Mlambo in the cage before his fight with Ricky Bandejas

Then there was another of the fights I was anticipating: Ricky Bandejas v Franz Mlambo. I said in the blog last week that I thought Bandejas would win because Mlambo can get caught, but I was still hoping Mlambo would win. It was an amazing opening round for the Irishman. Bandejas looked to be trying to feel his opponent out and Mlambo capitalised on every opportunity that presented itself. I watched most of the fight without the aid of the big screens so I didn't see things from every vantage point. Malmbo dropped Bandejas a couple of times and was clearly the better fighter in a dominant first round. He looked way better than expected. SBG had him well prepared. Then in the second round Bandejas went for a kick to the body but Mlambo caught it. While Mlambo was thinking about what to do next with his head unguarded Bandejas caught him twice in the head with swinging punches. Mlambo went face down on the canvas. I thought he slipped because Bandejas was on one leg and I didn't think he'd generated enough power while Mlambo was holding the other. Once he went to ground Bandejas was quickly in with rapid hammer fists to the head and the referee stepped in. Mlambo grabbed the ref's leg and when he realised what was going on he stood up and looked surprised that the ref stopped it. Becuase of this I thought it was an early stoppage, but looking at the replay on the big screen, I could understand the stoppage. KO victory for Bandejas 1m 42s of round 2. Bandejas said to give him another SBG Ireland fighter since he's knocked out two in a row when asked who he'd like next. Brian Moore was in the arena and posted on instagram tagging Bandejas to let him know he was willing to fight him next. Australia's Bec Rawlings v Kallionidu of Greece was up next. It started off on the feet as expected but Rawlings got a take down and dominated on the ground. Between rounds Rawlings looked exhausted though. In the second Kallionidu looked to establish distance and step up the pace with her striking and keep the fight on the feet. In the standing exchanges she looked like she might have the upper hand. But Rawlings got another take down and managed to keep it on the ground for most of the round where she looked dominant. She thought she had won at the end of the second because she locked in a tight rear naked choke, but the bell rang just as it looked like Kallionidu might tap. Again, Rawlings looked exhausted between rounds. It was a similar story in the third but Kallionidu managed to catch Rawlings and put her in trouble when there were standing exchanges. But she couldn't keep it standing and so couldn't dominate. In the end it was a unanimous decision victory for Rawlings. Kiefer Crosbie faced Furtado in the next one. Furtado proved to be a difficult opponent. There was a bit of gamesmanship, it looked like to me, from Furtado's corner between rounds. Before the start of the second the ref had to instruct them to wipe down Furtado and they were slow to do so. He was drenched before the start of round 3 and the ref called for a towel and wiped him down himself. It was almost as if Furtado was trying to get extra time to rest between rounds and get Crosbie impatient. Crosbie got fined for flipping the bird at Furtado after the fight but apologised for the incident. I can understand his frustration if he saw the between rounds antics as gamesmanship, although I don't know what was said to each other during the fight. Crosbie won by split decision. Next up was the main event for those watching on Paramount in the USA. Brent Primus faced late replacement Chris Bungard. Bungard in for the injured Peter Queally. Bungard had a couple of good moments on the feet at first. But once it went to ground Primus went for a choke. He couldn't lock it in but adjusted and got the submission victory by neck crank in the first round. Then it was on to the Irish Main card. They made changes to the cage to suit the sponsors for the Channel 5 tv coverage so there was a longer break between fights.

First up was Aaron Chalmers v Austin Clem. It was a dominant performance from Clem. One judge even scoring it 30-26! Chalmers couldn't string any decent attacks together. Unanimous decision victory for Clem. Ward v Kurtz was the co-main. SBG's Charlie Ward looking to get back to winning ways after losing last time out in London. He looked good out there. He was sharp. In the third round there was a lot of blood coming from cuts on Kurtz's face and the doctor was called in but he said it was ok to fight on. It didn't last long though. Kurtz was taking a beating at that stage and the ref decided to call a halt to proceedings less than two minutes later. TKO victory in the 3rd for Ward.

Leah McCourt is interviewed after her fight as her daughter hugs her

One thing that disappointed me was that a lot of people left the arena before the main event. The arena was still more than half full but surely they should have stayed around to support a big prospect in Irish MMA. Leah McCourt faced German Judith Ruis in the main event. There was a woman screaming for Leah louder than everyone else in the arena a couple of rows behind me. People were getting a laugh out of her screaming "come on Leah, you can do it! Do it for Isabella!" Isabella is Leah's daughter. I got a bit distracted by her screaming and one guy taking the mickey out of her to laughs of the people around him. But I wish some of the people that had already left had stayed and been as enthusiastic in supporting Leah. There was a moment where Ruiz looked to to have locked in a solid arm bar and I thought it might be over, but McCourt kept her composure and managed to turn in towards Ruis and got an excellent escape. Leah McCourt looked good in her unanimous decision victory though. 

I left the arena shortly after everyone left the cage after the main event. I found out the following day that I missed another fight. John Kavanagh tweeted that his last fighter was in the cage at midnight. I saw highlights of what looked like a good fight on twitter that wasn't on when I was in the arena - Bulaid v Freitas - so I'm assuming this fight in front of an almost empty arena happened after the main event. Described by the commentary team as two high level kick boxers in an MMA cage with MMA gloves. Illias Bulaid got a unanimous decision victory over Diego Freitas. 

Bellator Dublin Coming Up, Rio Rancho and UFC Dublin in August.

First of all I want to talk briefly about the main event at UFC Rio Rancho at the weekend. Jan Blachovich defeated Corey Anderson by KO in the first round. Jan did to Corey what many thought Johnnie Walker would do to him. I didn't see the fight but I saw the knock out here: https://www.ufc.com/news/ufc-rio-rancho-results-anderson-blachowicz-2 . From what I gather from the Weasle's breakdown, it was a case of getting Corey's rhythm and timing down for Jan. Corey always took two steps before a major strike and Jan picked his moment.
Bellator Dublin is coming up on Saturday. I counted 19 fights on the card. It seems a bit much even with the original main event cancelled. There were 17 in September and they had to jumble around a couple of preliminaries to keep with the Paramount schedule in the USA. The Paramount main card is going to be recorded and shown in the evening across the Atlantic. Maybe that'll help scheduling issues, but it'll take a number of fights not going the distance not to put the pressure on the schedule. The real reason I'm talking about that is I don't want to miss any fights and I'm thinking of toilet breaks.
Danni Neilan, Richie Smullen and Will Fleury are the three names I'm looking out for in the prelims. Danni impressed me in her debut and it was one of the jumbled around fights, so she was fighting in front of a full house just before the main event. Will lost to an impressive Novenyi Jr. in September so hopefully he'll bounce back from that. Franz Mlambo faces a major step up in class against Ricky Bandejas in the Paramount main card. I'd like to see Franz pull off a surprise victory but he can be hit and Bandejas has an impressive KO against James Gallagher. I think Bandejas wins that one but it'll be good experience for Franz regardless of the result. Kiefer Crosbie faces Imaik Furtado. John Kavanagh said on social media that he expects Kiefer to win by second round ko. I don't know anything about Furtado except he has a 6-1 record compared to Crosbie's 7-1.
The main event for the Paramount viewers is Brent Primus v Chris Bungard. Bungard is a late replacement for Peter Queally who had to pull out of the event unfortunately. If he won this he could have been a star in the making after his fight of the night performance in September, but it's not to be for now.
Then we go to the Bellator Dublin Main card. Charlie Ward faces Kyle Kurtz in the standout fight of the two for me. Ward is always fun to watch, but is coming off a loss in his most recent fight in England so hopefully he'll be back in the win column Saturday night. The main event features Leah McCourt v Judith Ruis. Ruis is a German fighter that I don't know much about to be honest. She has a 6-4 pro record. McCourt looks like she's being pushed as a potential star by Bellator. She's coming from a rear naked choke victory in her fight at the venue in September. But I've seen analysis which suggests she's good wherever the fight goes and she did look good to me five months ago.
One more thing I want to mention today. A UFC fight night has been announced for Dublin on the 15th of August. Tickets are on sale the end of June. It's not a big pay-per-view event so Conor McGregor won't be on the fight card. Or at least I doubt he will anyway, but he did tweet "Conor McGregor v Diego Sanchez" recently. Who from Ireland fights in the UFC apart from Conor now though? They cancelled the last one in Dublin to make a fight night in Liverpool for Darren Till. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same with this one to accommodate a new rising star and the fact that the best Irish fighters are mostly with Bellator now. So I won't be too pushed about going until closer to the date. The fact that Queally and Gallagher are out Saturday could help some make up their mind to hold out for August instead.

UFC 247, Released Fighters & Bellator Middleweight.

I didn't get to see UFC 247 unfortunately. But all the evidence suggests that Dominick Reyes won the main event in everyone's eyes except the judges. I wish I'd seen the fight to be able to make my own call on it. A lot of people were complaining about one judge in particular giving it 49-46 to Jones when it looked like Reyes won the first three rounds. It looks like Valentina Shevchenko will be champion in her division for a long time. She's unrivaled at the moment. The weasle suggested Roxanne Modafferi as her next opponent. I like that fight. Roxanne is good on the ground and her experience might cause a few problems for Valentina, so should make for an interesting fight. I think Derrick Lewis got the home town decision with the judges. I'm told Ilir Latiffi had numerous takedowns and even though he didn't do too much damage, he held Lewis down whereas Reyes got straight back up after Jones struggled to take him down. Yet Jones reckons the takedowns were what got him the decision. So more inconsistency from the judges. It was also reported that one judge wasn't even looking at the Lauren Murphy v Andrea Lee fight for periods of time but that was contradicted by mentioning that they have monitors on the floor to see what's going on in the octagon if their view is blocked. I don't know how true that monitor thing is because commentators have to be observant. I must also mention James Krause. He took a fight on a days notice when Trevin Giles' original opponent pulled out last minute. Giles is a weight division above, even two if you count that Krause has fought at lightweight. He went in against a bigger guy without a proper training camp, no time to prepare, made a good showing of himself and took it to a decision. Giles won but everyone is praising Krause for his "gangster" move.
In the meantime the UFC have quietly released eight fighters:
Heavyweight Junior Albini with a 1-4 record in the UFC (14-6 total in MMA)
Welterweight Nathan Coy 1-2 (15-7)
Bantamweight Brandon Davis 2-5 (10-8)
Women's flyweight Kalindra Faria 0-3 (18-8-1)
Men's bantamweight Grigorii Popov 0-2 (13-3)
Welterweight Ben Saunders 10-10 (22-13-2)
Men's bantamweight Jin Soo Son 0-2 (9-4)
Heavyweight Daniel Spitz 1-3 (6-3)
Credit: MMA Junkie and SBNation for that info.
It was revealed Monday that Douglas Lima is going to go up a division to fight Gegard Mousasi for the Bellator middleweight title vacanted by Rafael Lovato Jr. due to an ongoing medical condition. Well he's ambitious, I'll give him that. Rory McDonald didn't fare too well against Mousasi but maybe Lima has a few tricks up his sleeve. I don't fancy his chances. We'll see though. Speaking of Bellator, only a week and a half to go to the Dublin event. I'll be taking notes and I'll do another extensive post here.
I just want to mention one more thing in relation to Jon Jones before I go. The weasle tweeted: "I see people saying that Jones has declined. This can be true if the whole PED thing is real but I also see that his competition is clearly stronger now than ever before". I replied with: " Stronger competition and more wary of his opponents strengths and less inclined to take risks now that he has to stay PED free". My observation summed up was playing safer against stronger competition rather than decline. The weasle replied with "Very well said". So it seems this casual's observations can mean something to guys who are able to provide a more in-depth analysis into the technical aspects of the sport, when I get the observation right.

A Number Of Things Going On

First of all the Bellator Dublin card looks like it won't be a sell out this time. The main event has been cancelled and a replacement lined up for the co-main because James Gallagher and Peter Queally have both withdrawn due to injury. Such a pity. Gallagher has a back injury. Don't know what Queally's injury is but Chris Bungard is taking his place to fight Brent Primus. There are still a couple of other fights I'm looking forward to though. Danni Neilan and Franz Mlambo are still there. Danni impressed in her pro debut in September by outclassing her opponent Rivarola to get a unanimous decision victory. I hope she's a future prospect. Leah McCourt v Judith Ruis of Germany is the main event now according to what I read on The Mac Life.
I hear that Saudi Arabia want to give $100m for Khabib to fight either Conor McGregor or Floyd Mayweather in their country. A bit of a power play by the Saudis and an attempt to change their image to the world. But The UFC have a base in Abu Dhabi and I assume they'd want any major Middle Eastern events there. Khabib is not looking past Tony Ferguson but the UFC, or at least the MMA media, are disrespecting Tony by looking past him and chasing the "money" fights for Khabib before he's even fought Tony. This title fight in April for the lightweight championship of the world should be the biggest UFC pay per view event this year, regardless if Usman v Masvidal is made for international fight week and Stipe Miocic v Daniel Cormier is made for later this year. I'm saying it should be, not that it will be. Tony and Khabib are the best lightweights fighting for much more than the belt - arguably the greatest lightweight of all time. If Khabib wins he's beaten everybody who's anybody in the division, pretty much. If Tony wins the only fight to make other than a rematch with Khabib is Conor McGregor. I'm hoping Tony wins. I really hope it goes ahead this time! The fight going ahead and Tony winning would silence the doubters and make people take notice and give respect to Tony that he deserves.
UFC 247 is this weekend. I haven't looked at who else is on the card apart from the main and co-main to be honest. I expect Jon Jones to win the main because of his reach advantage and fight iq. But Dominick Reyes can cause problems for him. Reyes has good instincts and great reflexes but he can be caught out when things aren't going according to the game plan. Katlyn Chookagian trains at top gyms in New York and New Jersey but I don't see her getting past Valentina Shevchenko.

A Few Other Things

I'm adding a second blog post today because I wanted to talk about a few other things but didn't want the "How Heavyweight Should Play Out" post to go on too long, especially with unrelated subject matter.
Firstly let's talk about Stephen A. Smith. He made comments implying that Cowboy Cerrone effectively gave up in his fight with Conor McGregor and that we didn't learn anything about Conor from this fight. When people in the know called him out on his lack of knowledge he just kept digging a hole for himself. If he said "I" instead of "we learned nothing" that comment may not have been so bad. But he undermined Conor's skill, game plan and fight IQ with the other comment, not to mention disrespecting Cowboy. Cowboy has an enviable record in MMA, most wins with Zuffa, most headkick knockouts in the UFC. Cowboy loves to fight. Luke Thomas, in pointing out why we should all respect him for showing up, reminded me of the fact that Cowboy Cerrone fought five times in 364 days and three of those are above him in the UFC lightweight rankings. He beat the young prospect Alex Hernandez in January of last year. Then he went on to beat Al Iaquinta, who went five rounds with Khabib on a day's notice after training for a three round fight. After that he lost to Tony Ferguson but it was due to a doctor's stoppage because he blew his nose between rounds causing fluid to build up in his injured face, closing his eye. He wasn't knocked out. Then he got knocked out by Justin Gaethje. Then he fought Conor Mcgregor. For Smith to imply that man just gave up comes across as ignorant and disrespectful to both Conor and Cowboy. Matt Sera suggested Smith was talking like a guy who never got punched in the face and it clicked with me as to why Smith couldn't understand how Cowboy was beaten so quickly by Conor. Anyway, ESPN need to have someone more knowledgeable on MMA than him on their presenting team in my humble opinion.
I didn't see the Rafael Dos Anjos v Michael Chiesa fight at the weekend. I was surprised when I saw the result. I was thinking about how clear Chiesa's height and reach advantge was to see when they faced off after weighing in. But I was still confident RDA could win. Afterall, he beat the likes of Nate Diaz and Robbie Lawlor. But Chiesa got the decision and called out Colby Covington. RDA is seen as the gatekeeper in the division, a label he said he's happy with, so this result adds another name into the title mix. Usman and Masvidal should get it on for the title. You have Leon Edwards v Tyron Woodley in March. So Covington was a smart call out from Chiesa. Covington is recovering from injury giving Chiesa time to prepare for one of the top contenders, assuming he gets that match. Plus, a Masvidal v McGregor fight could happen too, further stalling Chiesa's title ambitions along with Colby, Edwards, and Woodley being ahead of him in the queue.
Chris Cyborg is the women's featherweight champion in Bellator after beating Julia Budd. I wonder are there any prospects that could prevent her from holding the title for a long time? Sergio Pettis won on his Bellator debut too. Do these results show a gap in class between fighters who have fought in the UFC and the best Bellator has to offer outside of that I wonder? Apart from Douglas Lima, perhaps.
On the issue of Pettis, he's fighting at 135lbs in Bellator. Brian "Pikeman" Moore is fighting in that division. I was thinking if he fought Pettis and won it'd be a sure fire way to get him noticed in the title conversation. I'm considering commenting on his Instagram or tweeting him about it to see what he says.

How Heavyweight Should Play Out

Curtis Blaydes beat Junior Dos Santos at UFC Raleigh at the weekend. Curtis Blaydes has been calling for a title shot as a result of beating a former champion. In fairness, when he couldn't take JDS down and wrestle him, he out boxed one of the best boxers in the heavyweight division. JDS was frustrated by Blaydes movement and distance management and seemed to be resorting to swinging wild uppercuts and haymakers that were missing their target trying to get a ko. Blaydes is a top prospect and has youth on his side but he was beaten convincingly twice by Francis Ngannou. Francis is next in line to fight for the title when the Stipe v Cormier thing sorts itself out. But Francis has a fight with Rosenstruik coming up. Rozenstruik has knockout power that could put a spanner in the works. But, assuming Francis does get past Rozenstruik, it would be very disrespectful of the UFC not to give Francis the next shot ahead of Blaydes since the only reasons he's been inactive was because he couldn't get a fight lined up and a Stipe v Cormier rubber match seems to be what the UFC wants before anything else in terms of a heavyweight title fight.
I'm not fully tuned in to whats going on regarding Stipe and DC but here's what I make of it: DC is due to retire soon. He wasn't supposed to fight beyond forty as per his own wishes. He beat Stipe for the title and wanted a big money fight against Brock Lesnar before retiring. Eventually Brock Lesnar decided he didn't want to fight in the UFC anymore and DC agreed to a rematch with Stipe. Stipe won the rematch, obviously, and DC is one of those guys who wants to avenge every loss so wants to get that belt back from Stipe before retiring. Stipe felt disrespected that he only got a rematch because Brock Lesnar wasn't available, because the DC win was controversial in terms of eye pokes. Now that Stipe is champion again he's making DC wait, partly because DC made him wait for a rematch and partly because he's getting treatment for niggling injuries. All the while you have Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou ready to take on both of them and Rozenstruik could be in the queue as well after fighting Ngannou. That's how I see it. I think they need to have a definite time line for Stipe v DC or that DC should retire (with plenty to be proud of in his career) and let the UFC get on with sorting out who should fight for the title against Stipe next.

UFC 246 - A Casual's View

I'll get to Conor McGregor v Cowboy but I want to talk about some of the other fights on the card first. Carlos Diego Ferriera looks to be a good prospect at lightweight. He submitted Anthony Pettis. Pettis has excellent grappling and is not easily submitted, as demonstrated in the Nate Diaz fight, but Ferriera got it done early in Round 2 - impressive! The Weasle was saying he and Cowboy should fight next as they're both coming off losses. It could be fought at 170 too. I was disappointed for Maycee Barber but I had an inkling that Roxanne Modafferi's experience would cause problems for Barber. She did the right thing by being ruthless and capitalising on Barber's torn ACL. Still though, Barber hung on for a decision which shows her toughness. But, as I see it, Modafferi was dominant before the injury. Barber will learn from this and come back stronger. Conor McGregor came back from a cruciate injury and look where he is now. She needs to allow it to heal. She's young and early in her career so she has time on her hands. I was wondering why Holly Holm got co-main in last week's post and it seems my doubts about it deserving to be there were justified, judging by the poor fight.
It was classic misdirection by Conor McGregor. All the focus was on him going back to Crumlin boxing club and bringing his former coach into the camp to see what punches could and could not work in MMA. There were photos and video clips online of him grappling and Dillon Danis saying how skilled Conor is at Jiu Jitsu. There was the talk that Cowboy wanted to stand and bang to give the fans a show. The talk of if it ends inside the first 2 that it'd be Conor winning and Cowboy would have the opportunity after that. Conor, confident as ever, hoping Cowboy would be able to challenge him for a few rounds so that he could get a competitive start to his season and get rounds in before his next fight. So we all had our ideas of what to expect from the fight. But I'm sure nobody outside of Conor's training camp saw those shoulders coming! He launched at Cerrone immediately with a huge left, which Cerrone ducked under and went to change levels. Conor probably going for Masvidal's fastest ko record. Cerrone tried to grab Conor's midsection and Conor's momentum meant he effectively struck Cerrone with his hip causing him to get back up and clinch. Then Conor stunned him with shoulder strikes, breaking his nose. Cerrone was coming off two bad knockouts by Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, thus tenderising his face and it seemed Conor knew the shoulders would take advantage of this. I think other fighters will be drilling this from now on. Cerrone missed with a high kick and Conor landed with one of his own, knocking cowboy to the ground. Conor said he was going in, in a rush but he heard a shout from his corner to pick his shots. Conor duly did once he had control of cowboy's hips on the ground. Referee Herb Dean gave cowboy every chance to fight back but there was nothing cowboy could do. All this in 40 seconds!
Conor said that was him not at his best and that he needs to make a few adjustments. Well, with a bit more activity in the octagon, those adjustments made and the right game plan, I believe he can beat Jorge Masvidal. But I want to see Masvidal v Usman next. That's a story for a different day. I think that the UFC 246 main event showed the gap between the top level fighters and the elite in the UFC.
Just one more thing I want to mention briefly. There's an event coming up in Raleigh North Carolina featuring Curtis Blaydes v Junior Dos Santos. I'm more looking forward to the fight below the Main Event - Rafael Dos Anjos v Michael Chiesa - to be honest, although I like the main. Two excellent grapplers, RDA and Chiesa. I hope it is a good battle on the ground. I expect RDA to win though because of his striking and muay thai style kicking.

UFC 246 and Cowboy's Limp

So the notorious returns to the octagon against Cerrone on Saturday. Plenty are saying Conor is sure to be victorious but I don't think the result is that certain. What happens if Conor is looking to assess Cowboy's rhythm and timing and gets caught with a head kick while adjusting to a 1-2 from Cowboy? Cowboy has great wrestling and jiu jitsu but, in fairness, Conor has been drilling wrestling since the camp for the Khabib fight, always drilling jiu jitsu and proved what a good clinch game he has in the Diaz rematch. I think Cowboy can upset the odds but hope Conor wins. Anyone who watched Embedded yesterday saw Cowboy's limp. He reckons he kicked the bag wrong or something and that it's nothing serious. But my expectation of the chances of a victory for Conor went up after seeing it. I tweeted asking what would happen if, hypothetically, Cowboy pulled out and another fighter got bumped up to save the main event but I didn't get a reply. I was thinking Anthony Pettis is there but he's scheduled at 155. But maybe he'd just not cut any weight in the last couple of days.
I wonder why Holly Holm is the co-main? She doesn't have the greatest record lately. But she seems to always be a draw since beating Rhonda Rousey. Pettis is facing Carlos Diego Ferreira. I don't know much about Ferreira to be honest but The Weasle is predicting a Ferreira victory, so he must be good. Further down the card the sexy Maycee Barber is facing the veteran Roxanne Modafferi. That should be an interesting fight. It's probably Barber's toughest test to date on her quest to become the youngest ever UFC champion.
On a slightly different note, my phone is breaking down and I can't afford a new one. I don't want to but I'm considering selling my Bellator Dublin ticket to finance a new phone. I'll put it off as long as I can. Hopefully it won't come to that. I don't want to miss the event.