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.